Twisted Desires
by Odyssion
Summary: Naruto chases after Sasuke, only to find him in the arms of Itachi. And in some twisted way, he hates him for it. [ItaSasu, NaruIta, NaruSasu]
1. Sinful Stupidity

**Twisted Desires**

_Disclaimer:_ This is a purely non-profit story for entertainment purposes only. The characters of Naruto belong to their respective owners.

_Author's Notes:_ How to make this as concise as possible…

This fic is AU after episode 134 (main point is that Naruto's only tried to retrieve Sasuke with the Shikamaru team, and Sasuke hasn't reached Orochimaru), so we're starting up with right after Sasuke and Naruto's fight. Now, I haven't watched Naruto long enough to get even close to episode 134 (I'm almost 100 episodes shy – yes, I gave up that early due to bad download time and lag while watching), which means I've had to find out all that happens on my own. I've been reading episode summaries, character descriptions, jutsu descriptions, and any other thing relevant to the plot like crazy (more researching than I've ever done in my life), and I've also been studying screencaps extensively (a picture may not be worth a thousand words in my opinion, but it can help a lot). This is the product of that work. I just got so obsessed with Itachi and Sasuke as a couple, and decided to try my hand at it. This story is partially inspired by a Naruto fic I read a long time ago (I don't remember what it's called…) where Itachi and Naruto have this ongoing affair. I decided to take that and transform it to fit my needs. If the characters seem OOC, some of it is on purpose, but it'll probably be because I haven't actually _seen_ these characters for myself. Reading other people's descriptions is all fine and good, but it doesn't do justice to your own observations. My defense: it's AU.

Now with that all said and done, I hope you'll still give this story a chance. I did try to get as much information as I could to make this as accurate as possible (I love Wikipedia), and I think it'll be interesting enough to entertain and amuse. This is pretty much a melodramatic love triangle, with Itachi x Sasuke as the main pairing (although it might not seem like it). Give it a chance.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

He jumped lithely from tree to tree, trained eyes scanning for any trace of a previous presence. In the condition he'd been in, Naruto wouldn't be surprised if Sasuke hadn't made it very far. Misty as it was, he was still surprised that there were no traces of anything at all – no blood, no footsteps… nothing. There was just the leafy canopy above him, and the whistling grass below that still held onto the dewdrops the rain had left behind.

Not that the person he was searching for would leave anything behind. No, the man was far too scrupulous for that. His body was screaming at him to stop, protesting the strenuous exercise after so brief a time to recover, but he didn't care. He had to know, and he knew there was only one person he wanted to hear it from.

Then, as if guided, he started following a winding trail of gnarled trees deeper into the darkness of the forest. He knew without knowing that his destination was there. His eyes adjusted rapidly to the dwindling light as he feet spurred ever onward. He could see him now; just at the edge of his vision; almost out of eyes' range, a solitary figure stood silhouetted against a vast tree.

Jumping down from the branches with ease, Naruto ran eagerly to this shrouded being.

"Itachi!" he called anxiously, worry marring his young features. "Itachi, where is Sasuke? Why does Orochimaru want him?"

Slowly the figure turned, cloak swirling to reveal long dark hair and blood-red eyes. He studied the genin a moment before speaking.

"Is that what you've come here for? To ask me ridiculous questions?"

Not quite knowing why, Naruto flinched under the rebuff. He didn't like Itachi mocking him, but for some reason it didn't make him angry.

"I—" Naruto faltered, not knowing what to say. In truth, he had come for more reasons than that. Itachi, sensing his hesitation, smiled behind the cover of his cloak. Using the advantage to his situation, he proceeded towards Naruto.

"Answer me, Naruto," he commanded, advancing steadily towards the blond. Naruto stood rooted to the spot, unable to reply. When they were finally face-to-face, Itachi reached out to lift Naruto's chin. The genin never flinched at the contact, and stared into the forsaken sharingan eyes with little fear.

"You know what you really came here for," Itachi whispered softly, his calm voice ever deadly. "Why not ask for it?"

Hypnotized, Naruto tried to regain control of his senses. He broke away from Itachi's touch, and shook his head.

"I need to know where Sasuke is," Naruto stated, a hint of desperation in his voice. Itachi smirked with amusement, eyes never leaving Naruto's face.

"Why?"

"I have to bring him back!" Naruto exclaimed heatedly, intensity entering his eyes. Itachi's amusement dissipated as quickly as it came, as his eyes reclaimed their naturally hard tint at Naruto's words.

"Such loyalty," Itachi ridiculed, moving to close the distance between them once again. "Such… _passion_."

Naruto shivered. Itachi's voice had gotten progressively quieter, and Naruto could only fear what would happen next. Itachi reached out a hand and brushed it almost lovingly down the side of Naruto's face and neck. The genin's breath hitched.

Itachi leaned in closer and whispered so that his voice tickled Naruto's ear, "Do you have such passion for anyone else?"

Before Naruto could respond, Itachi's hands had already roamed down his body and took a firm hold of his ass. As Naruto gasped in shock, Itachi took the opportunity to slip his tongue inside the youth's mouth, effectively silencing him. Naruto moaned as Itachi ground their bodies together and their rapidly forming erections rubbed, sending a wave of pleasure through him.

His mind was dazed as Itachi pulled away slightly, asking him quietly, "Is this what you came here for?"

Goosebumps prickled his skin as he answered with a half-contained moan. "Yes."

Satisfied, Itachi continued to roam the young body that was helpless beneath his touch. Naruto's responses to his torture were pushing him along the road to release. His hand travelled up Naruto's shirt and traced the seal that was pulsating on his navel. Without ever saying a word, Itachi stripped Naruto of his clothes and pushed him onto his stomach. Naruto closed his eyes and bit back a groan as the familiar pain of penetration hit him.

It was stupid, he knew. Stupid to run to a mass murderer for answers. Stupid to run to a mass murderer to be molested, all because he looks like someone he secretly loved. The first time he had seen Itachi, he'd thought he was looking at an older version of Sasuke – and he couldn't help being attracted to him. If Sasuke wouldn't look at him, at least Itachi would. He didn't remember how this had all started - how he had come to crave Itachi's attention, his protection… his cock. At least Itachi would touch him and acknowledge him, even if it were for his own reasons. If he knew nothing else, he knew that Itachi hadn't hurt him and wasn't disgusted by his mere presence. In some twisted way, Itachi made him feel wanted; made him feel… loved. Almost loved. He was sure the S-rank criminal didn't want him because he cared about him, but he didn't mind. The only problem Naruto could possibly see was that perhaps, just perhaps, **he** was starting to mind. He was starting to want Itachi to care, because perhaps, just perhaps, he was starting to care about Itachi.

He arched his back as Itachi hit his pleasure spot, and whored himself completely as the stoic man repeatedly slammed into him. When Itachi finally came with a hard thrust inside him, Naruto breathed in contentment. For a while, he could almost forget everything.

Uncharacteristically, Itachi didn't pull out of him right away. The only other Uchiha lay lightly on Naruto's back, his pale skin cold against the genin's flushed flesh. Naruto was quickly getting weary, but Itachi's voice caught him before he fell to the seduction of sleep.

"We're almost the same, you and I," he murmured softly, and Naruto scrunched up his face in confusion. What was Itachi talking about?

"We're not looked at as people, but as things that people want or hate. Things taught to be feared and detested. And no one else understands…"

He was expecting Itachi to say more, or perhaps hoping he would, but nothing of the sort came. He tried to ponder what the dark-haired man had meant, but before he could come to a conclusion Itachi spoke again.

"Sasuke is heading to Orochimaru, who'll use him as a vessel for his soul."

Naruto winced as Itachi unexpectedly pulled out of him, but didn't move away. He let the words sink in; a vessel? Orochimaru wanted to use Sasuke's body? He wanted to think on it further, but the disturbing thought was not to plague his mind for long as sleep finally overtook him and he succumbed to the numbness of being free of thoughts.

Itachi stood, quiet as a shadow, and draped his cloak about his shoulders. With a final searching look at the boy who carried so much hidden power, he vanished without a trace.

**TBC**

**

* * *

**_AN:_ A bit of a teaser, which has hopefully made you somwhat interested. It seems a bit rushed to me, but I was really excited about posting this story. I'd ask for feedback, but hopefully you're already one step ahead of me. :)


	2. Gravitation

**Twisted Desires**

_Disclaimer:_ This is a purely non-profit story for entertainment purposes only. The characters of Naruto belong to their respective owners.

_Author's Notes:_ Sorry for the long notes last chapter. To get to the point, I want to limit the excess use of characters in this story, since (for the most part) our focus will be on Sasuke, Itachi, and Naruto. If it seems strange that a certain character does a certain thing, it's because I want to pick and choose the characters I like (or feel that I can write best about) and leave others out. Not too much happens in this chapter, but it's critical for plot development!

* * *

**Chapter 2**

He woke up in the warm sunshine of the afternoon, unsurprised that he was alone. Itachi never stayed; Itachi would never stay. The discarded parts of his ensemble were strewn not far from him, and he hastily got dressed, feeling somehow embarrassed as if the trees could see.

Rays of light filtered in through the broken canopy, and Naruto surveyed his surroundings for the first time. It was a tiny clearing enclosed entirely by many ancient trees. From nearby, a bird took wing in a flurry of coloured feathers, startling the groggy genin. It took him a while to remember why he had left in the first place. When thoughts of Sasuke re-entered his mind, he became instantly alert. He had spent too much time that morning; he had to find Sasuke and get him back to the village before they started declaring him a missing-nin as well.

He stood abruptly and was about to set off when the loud grumbling of his stomach stopped him short. Feeling sheepish, he decided that it'd be best for him to eat before doing anything else.

-

Kakashi hummed softly to himself as he walked, his attention firmly fixed on his book. It seemed like such a carefree gesture in light of all that occurred. In truth, his mind wasn't (for once) solely on his novel (although he had to admit that this was, by far, the best part yet). He cared a lot for his team and all the shinobi in Konoha, but he didn't think fixating on something he couldn't at all fix was healthy, let alone productive. Instead, he chose to focus his attention on something he _could_ fix, and maybe it would in turn help to fix all the other things.

As it turned out, Kakashi was on his way to visit one of his team. Naruto had been banged up rather badly, and had been allowed to return home the day before under strict orders to rest (Tsunade had alluded to something along the lines of a decree to ban Naruto from every ramen shop in town; Kakashi figured he'd take her seriously). The masked jounin finally came to a halt in front of Naruto's residence, and tapped the door softly. When he got no reply, he knocked harder, but already the panic was rising in his chest – Naruto had a long history of reckless behaviour, even with a sizable string of consequences behind every action. He quickly put his book away and whipped open the door, fearing the worst. When he was greeted with nothing but an empty room, as neat as it had been under Naruto's inhabitancy, his anxiety increased tenfold. As he surveyed the area, a large scrap of paper on the bedside cabinet caught Kakashi's eye; it rested neatly on the clock, the pristine whiteness leaning softly into the timepiece like a timid lover, as if knowing its own offence. He carefully picked up the badly written letter to scan over briefly, and it told him all he needed to know. Without hesitation, Kakashi made his way directly to the Hokage's office.

-

It was nearing evening, and still Naruto had found nothing. He had been scouring the area all day (he realized with dismay that Itachi had gotten him lost by sidetracking him), but he found no signs of anyone or anything. He also couldn't find his way back. Once the sun set, he knew he'd be even more at a loss; at least in the afternoon he had known which direction he was going in. Frustrated, Naruto stopped abruptly on a branch and sat down to think.

What could he do? He knew where Sasuke wanted to go, but as he'd found out a little too late, he didn't know where the place was. "Sasuke's going to Orochimaru" is only so useful when you don't know where Orochimaru is. He knew he should've asked someone, but only a select group of people knew about the dangerous lair, and none of those would venture to share that privileged information with him. How would he find Orochimaru's castle? Unless he stumbled across it by accident and was lucky enough not to get killed (when had he gotten so cynical?), his chances of success were pretty bleak. Who would know? Who would—

And he stopped short, having reasoned himself into another preferable situation (in his increasingly twisted mind). Itachi would know, of course. Itachi always knew. Why hadn't it occurred to him before? Brushing aside the part of his conscience that screamed at him for wanting to see the missing-nin again so soon, Naruto was firmly resolved and already on his way. He'd have to find Itachi. He'd have to find Itachi to find Sasuke… it was only logical sense.

_'Itachi… why does everything always gravitate towards you?'_

The part of his mind that he thought he'd shut down, the ethical, rational side, screamed unmistakably, _'Because you want it to.'_

-

When he opened his eyes, everything was dark.

At first he thought perhaps he had died, but the pain coursing through every fibre of his being disproved that. He tried to recall what had happened as indistinct images flashed before his eyes…

Naruto. Of course it was Naruto. The dope just couldn't understand anything, and nearly killed him because of it. He sighed as he touched his burning forehead. He had limped away alone in the rain, grateful that no one came after him. He had been so exhausted, both out of chakra and emotionally drained. The rain soaked his clothes and streamed down his face – the tears he never allowed himself to shed. It was all just so much, and it wasn't nearly over.

He had tried to find dry firewood, but that proved impossible. He couldn't just create a fire using jutsu in his terrible condition, so he'd had to sit and bear it out. He'd found this massive tree with dense enough branches to shield him from the rain, and had promptly collapsed ever since. Judging from the fragmented view he had of the stars, he had probably been out for a day or so.

Wearily, he tried to stand but found that his body was too feeble to co-operate. The fever still raged inside him, making him weak. He cursed himself for his weakness; if he ever wanted to defeat Itachi, he couldn't let a loudmouth like Naruto and a little rain defeat him. He reached into his pocket to pull out the remainder of the meagre food supply he had brought, only to come up with some soggy, disintegrated bread. Wrinkling his nose in distaste, he salvaged as much as he could and dryly swallowed.

It was then that he heard it, a rustling from beyond the darkness behind him. Instinctively, his hand went to his kunai and his senses narrowed. Who would be here at a time like this? Who would be here at all? Trying to make as little noise as possible, he half-crawled, half-dragged himself to peer around the thick tree trunk. To his utter horror, he saw the clearly identifiable form of Naruto, blond hair glowing in the moonlight. What disturbed him more was the figure he was talking to… a man clothed in the cloak of the Akatsuki. He was confused; Naruto had never shown any ambition to become more powerful or anything of the sort – in fact, he had expressed the entire opposite. Why would he be affiliating with an Akatsuki member?

The shock was complete as the two started to speak, and Sasuke recognized the hollow voice that haunted his dreams.

"Where is Orochimaru?" Naruto asked fervently, seeming far too anxious. Sasuke couldn't say he blamed him.

"Why does it matter?" the dead voice of his older brother replied.

"I have to know, Itachi," Naruto's voice trailed off, and Sasuke found it strange how familiar his brother's name seemed to be to Naruto, how easily it rolled off his tongue. To him, the sound was almost foreign now. "I have to bring Sasuke back."

Startled to hear his own name, he gasped softly. Thankfully, neither Naruto nor Itachi seemed to notice.

"If he's so important to you, why are you wasting your time here with me?" Itachi asked almost coyly. "Could it be that this was never about Sasuke?"

Sasuke couldn't understand what Itachi was saying, but all thoughts fled his mind as Itachi crushed his lips against Naruto's, eliciting a moan from the expressive genin. Shock, anger, embarrassment, and something else mingled in his mind all at once. Try as he might, he couldn't tear his eyes away. He couldn't look away when Itachi slowly undressed Naruto and himself, leaving the two exposed to the dim moonlight. He couldn't look away when Itachi shoved Naruto onto his hands and knees, and when Naruto let out a groan of pain as Itachi entered him, Sasuke found his chest was unbelievably constricted. He wanted Itachi to get away from Naruto, to not touch him, to not be interested in him. He wanted Naruto to snap back to his senses before Itachi killed him. The two sides warred in his mind as to who was right – or who was the most dominant. Although he did care deeply about Naruto, the prevalent thing running through his mind at that moment was for Itachi to stop, to care about no one.

With a final wrenching of his heart, the two in the clearing were at long last sated. Sasuke grabbed his chest, unable to breathe. Why was he so bothered by what he'd just seen? Naruto and Itachi… the concept was alien, but it shouldn't be painful. Somehow, he had never felt so betrayed… but, strangely, this betrayal was not by Naruto. He twisted around to rest his back against the tree trunk, putting the two out of sight; whatever happened, he didn't want or need to see any more.

He could hear the rustling of clothes as both worked to get dressed. There was a lingering sort of silence all around.

"Orochimaru's lair is in the mountains to the north." Itachi's voice broke the hushed spell, and Sasuke strained to hear Naruto's muttered answer. He heard a loud scampering, and deduced that Naruto had left. Itachi was probably gone as well, although the man hadn't made any noise. Grateful to be spared any further… incidents, he closed his eyes and leant his head against the rough bark of the tree.

He didn't know what it was, but something made him open his eyes. He had to stop himself from screaming outright at the mesmerizing stare of the sharingan. Fighting to catch his breath, he tried to back away from his brother but the scratching of the tree's tough shell against his abused back told him that he had nowhere to go. All the while, Itachi watched him with an unreadable gaze.

"Did you enjoy the show?" he asked somewhat sardonically, but his eyes stayed the same neutral tint. When Sasuke didn't answer, Itachi merely laughed harshly. Sasuke had not heard Itachi laugh for years; he decided it wasn't a sound he liked. "My poor little brother must be so traumatized, so I'll take that as a yes."

Not willing to play along, Sasuke got up shakily. He moved to push past Itachi, but a firm arm blocked his path. Glaring at his brother, he tried to scowl as menacingly as he could.

"Get out of my way," Sasuke warned, although the hoarseness of his voice from sickness and hours of disuse made him far from intimidating. Itachi stood unchangeable, not hearing Sasuke at all.

"Going somewhere?" his brother asked, bringing his hand up to caress Sasuke's face. The younger Uchiha flinched back, but not before his brother's fingertips had ghosted the skin of his cheek. Itachi's eyes narrowed; he had felt the heat of his brother's flesh

"I'm not going to play your game, Itachi," Sasuke retorted, trying to get around. Still, Itachi blocked his path.

The older Uchiha watched him levelly. "If you wish to go, then defeat me."

Although he could barely stand, Sasuke wasn't about to be lectured like this. Knowing full well that he didn't have nearly enough chakra left, he tried to power chidori. A meagre spark formed in his palm before it dissipated and he slumped forward, having drained all his energy. Strong arms caught him before the hard ground could, and he fought to stay conscious as he felt himself being lifted away.

"Sleep, Sasuke," a voice from nearby told him, and a warm hand touched his head. More exhausted than he'd ever been, Sasuke was more than willing to comply.

**TBC**

**

* * *

**_AN:_ Please review, review, review!**  
**


	3. Sweetly Painful Truth

**Twisted Desires**

_Disclaimer:_ This is a purely non-profit story for entertainment purposes only. The characters of Naruto belong to their respective owners.

_Author's Notes:_ Wow, seems like there's some citrus in every chapter nn;;. It's all to set up the plot, I swear! I've read quite a few Itachi x Sasuke fics, and although this is similar, I've tried in a way to make Sasuke less… loving? It feels like in every fic, Sasuke is just dying to have sex with Itachi. With that said, the little Uchiha may be a little OOC here, but I don't see how you can write these implausible pairings without them being so.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"**What?**" Tsunade demanded when she had read the note that Kakashi had found. "Is he insane? I told him to rest!"

Kakashi couldn't help but smile. "You know Naruto; he never listens."

"Well, if he comes back almost dead again, don't expect me to heal him!" Tsunade fumed, rubbing her forehead wearily. "I don't have any more people to send after him, Kakashi. The team we sent after Sasuke is still recovering, and all the jounin and genin are busy. We don't have time to be running around like this." She paused, glancing back down at the note in her hand. "But we can't just let him wander around, especially with the Akatsuki out there."

_'Naruto, why do you always have to make my choices difficult?'_

"I'll go after him," Kakashi offered.

Tsunade gave him a questioning look. "Don't you still have a mission to complete?"

The jounin smiled. "Don't you think this is a little more important?"

Frustrated, Tsunade sighed. She knew he was right; Naruto was too important to leave for long – and Sasuke was nothing to joke about, either. "I don't want you going alone," she finally answered. "I've given strict orders for no one to work alone outside the village."

"Who do you suggest I take?" he asked sceptically.

She considered it for a moment. "See if you can find Jiraiya, and take him with you. Otherwise…" he voice trailed off, uncertain.

"I'll be careful," Kakashi promised.

Resigned, she had no other choice but to agree. "Just make it back in one piece."

-

He found that he was waking to nothingness far too often lately, but when he opened his eyes this time, there was a roaring flame.

He tried to sit up and found that his head was much lighter than it had been. Upon contact, his skin didn't feel like an inferno, and he sensed his chakra slowly regenerating within him. Confused, Sasuke looked around.

It was the same clearing he had seen before, but a fire was crackling happily beside him and no one else was there. The stars had shifted slightly; so he had passed out for another day or so. Startled, he saw his clothes folded neatly on one of the firestones. Upon looking down, he realized with a developing blush that he was naked. Itachi's cloak had served as a blanket to cover him when he'd slept. He wanted to get up and dress himself, but he didn't know who else was around. There was no need to voluntarily show his body. His cheeks burned at the thought of Itachi undressing him, seeing him stripped and vulnerable.

"You're awake." The voice startled him out of his reverie, and he whipped his head around so fast that he heard his neck crick. Itachi stood at the edge of the clearing, studying him. Although the cloak was more than sufficient to cover him, he still felt naked to those unnatural eyes.

Wordlessly, Itachi sat down by the fire and handed him what looked like food. Sasuke was reluctant to accept anything from this man, but he hadn't realized just how hungry he was. He gloomily took what was offered.

"Why are you doing this?" he finally had the courage to ask the question that had been burning his mind. "Why are you helping me? I'm going to kill you one day."

Itachi turned to look at him slowly, but his eyes held no emotion. "You have to live long enough first."

His arrogance angered Sasuke, who stood up in rage. "I don't need your help. I don't want anything from you!"

His brother continued to stare, albeit more interestedly, until Sasuke's anger vanished. Too late did he realize why Itachi had been looking at him that way.

He saw his own nakedness and grabbed quickly at the cloak to cover himself, but Itachi was faster. In one swift motion, he had snatched the fabric from around Sasuke's feet and threw it far from arm's reach.

Humiliated, the younger Uchiha turned to grab his clothes, but his brother's iron grip on his arm prevented him. He was yanked unceremoniously onto Itachi's lap and held there as his brother's breath tickled his ear.

"You've grown up, Sasuke," he whispered huskily, and Sasuke had to fight the blood from rushing to his face. Just what the heck did Itachi think he was doing?

"Let me go!" Sasuke half-demanded, half-pleaded, having never been so mortified in his life. But Itachi ignored his outburst and continued anyway.

"I wonder… am I the first one to touch you this way?" Itachi's free hand had gone between Sasuke's legs, causing the teen to let out a choked gasp.

"Ita--!"

He was quickly silenced by a demanding kiss, forced to submit under his brother's will. The part of his mind that was still working screamed that this was wrong; they were enemies, brothers…

He broke away harshly as an image of Naruto filled his mind. Of how Itachi had touched Naruto, of how Naruto had responded…

"No!"

-

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed, knowing full well he had gotten himself lost again. It was so bloody difficult to navigate under these damn trees! He had deviated from his path that early morning, and he'd never been able to find his way back since. It was like the forest had suddenly turned into one big circle. He tried again in vain to ascertain his position. Well, if he was lost, at least that meant (or he hoped it meant) that no one else could find him. They would have found his note by now and there'd by nins sent after him. He just needed to find Sasuke before they found him.

"How am I gonna get out of here!" he yelled, causing a few birds to fly away in fright. Huffy, he sat down and tried to close his eyes, pondering a strategy.

But he found that nothing else could penetrate his mind but Itachi. Itachi's cryptic words, Itachi's touch…

"Argh!" he wanted to pull out his hair in dismay. He had come out here to save Sasuke, not think about Itachi! He had to focus! But he found that the more he tried not to think about him, the more the older Uchiha haunted his thoughts. Maybe he just needed to see him again before he left…

-

"I won't be one of your playthings! I won't be like Naruto!"

Itachi simply let him talk, not bothering to stop him. "And yet you run to Orochimaru to be used by him?"

Sasuke stopped dead as Itachi's eyes roamed threateningly over the curse seal ingrained on his pale neck. Itachi was right; he hated when his brother was right. But he wasn't about to admit it, not now of all times.

"Do you really like being manipulated that much?" Itachi questioned, his hand brushing over the mark. Pain seared through that side of his body, and Sasuke tried to no avail to shove him away. "You see, I know much about manipulation."

"No one manipulates me. I make my own choices."

His statement amused Itachi. "Really? So you've been making your own choices all your life?"

Itachi's voice sent shivers down his spine. There was something about the way he knew, simply knew, what would irk you. It annoyed the hell out of Sasuke. When he didn't answer, Itachi answered for him.

"I've been making you all your life."

Infuriated, Sasuke lunged out at his brother, but his attack was easily deflected. Seizing the opportunity, Itachi pushed himself on top of Sasuke as his brother hit the ground. He grabbed both of Sasuke's hands and deftly pinned them above his head. Struggling futilely, Sasuke could only glare daggers at his brother.

"I hate you."

Itachi only smirked, and rubbed himself wanly against Sasuke. It disturbed the young genin that he was more aroused than anything else…

Itachi claimed his lips in a surprisingly gentle kiss while his free hand skilfully got rid of his clothes. Although he hated to admit it, Sasuke had to admire his brother's body. It was honed and flawless, just like the rest of him. He bucked against Itachi's grip, but his attempts were half-hearted.

His skin burned as he was kissed everywhere, probed and wanted. He had never thought Itachi would want him.

"N-no," Sasuke moaned weakly as Itachi's lips had worked his nipples till they were hard. "Why don't you go to Naruto? I'm sure he wants you," he spat vehemently.

Itachi paused. "Jealous, are we?"

Taking the chance to regain his composure, Sasuke replied with a haughty, "Of what?"

Itachi smirked and continued his ministrations. "This was never about Naruto," he said between kisses. "It's always been about you."

Sasuke was confused; what the heck was that supposed to mean? His mind tried to decipher the meaning, but all thoughts fled as his brother's lips found him. He fought to keep his composure as Itachi knowingly pleasured the inexperienced boy, lips moving with authority. Involuntarily, Sasuke jerked his hips towards his brother's waiting lips. When Itachi was sure Sasuke was about to reach his limit, he stopped.

Panting heavily, Sasuke looked down to see what the hold-up was.

"Well, if you insist I stop…" Itachi made as if to move away.

"No!" the word had slipped out before he could stop it. Itachi gave him an arched look, and Sasuke silently cursed himself. "God, Itachi…"

"I don't think he can help you," Itachi smirked.

"Itachi… please."

"Please what?"

"Do you want me to beg?" Sasuke's anger flared. When Itachi didn't reply, he swallowed his pride and said quietly, "Touch me."

-

Naruto watched as Sasuke gave himself up to his older brother.

A million emotions swirled inside him all at once. _"This was never about Naruto. It's always been about you."_

The words played themselves over and over in his mind. Never about him… he should've known. It was always about Sasuke. Sasuke, the talented one. Sasuke, the pretty one. Sasuke, the wanted one…

He couldn't help the tears that stung his eyes. Why did he ever meet Itachi? He thought he'd found the one person who had wanted him in some way, wanted him over the perfect boy Itachi was now screwing senseless…

He was so stupid. Why did he risk his life to come out here for this? Sasuke could stay and mess around with Itachi all he wanted. He didn't understand why he'd cared at all. Obviously Sasuke wanted to join the Akatsuki, and he had the right connections to do it.

His attention was snapped back as Sasuke let out a particularly loud moan. Itachi was slumped on top of him, kissing him gently. Another needle pierced Naruto's heart; he had asked Itachi countless times to let him see his face, but the dark-haired man had always taken him from behind. And now here was Sasuke, not asking or wanting anything but getting everything Naruto had ever wanted. He turned to leave, but fate wouldn't have it so; quite by accident, he stepped on a brittle twig that snapped with a resounding echo.

When he turned around, he found two sets of eyes fixed on him: one the deepest shade of crimson and the other the darkest of midnight.

**TBC**

**

* * *

**


	4. Jealous Rivalry

**Twisted Desires**

_Disclaimer:_ This is a purely non-profit story for entertainment purposes only. The characters of Naruto belong to their respective owners.

_Author's Notes:_ The more I try to edit this, the more confusing it becomes (which really makes no sense). I know it seems strange right now, but I'm writing this off the basis of a long-term Itachi/Naruto affair... thing. (So, in other words, Naruto's upset at Itachi because they've been "seeing each other" for a while, and now it's all about Sasuke). Ok, I make no sense. The later chapters are better, I promise.

Thanks to those who review._  
_

* * *

**Chapter 4**

After asking numerous people about Jiraiya's whereabouts and getting nowhere, Kakashi decided he'd wasted enough time trying to get backup. It wasn't like he planned to have a confrontation, anyway. Some said Jiraiya would be back soon, others said he wouldn't be back for a while. Whatever the case, he made his way out of the village at top speed. He'd left instructions that if Jiraiya returned within the near future, he was to be sent to the Hokage immediately. With an uneasy feeling, he sped up into a blur. Something told him things were not ok; and if Naruto had found Sasuke, or anyone else for that matter, there'd definitely be trouble.

-

It was as if in that instant, time stood still.

Sasuke looked like someone had just told him Naruto had beaten him at something. Naruto would've felt sympathy, except his anger was foremost at the time. Should he be embarrassed that he had just been caught watching two brothers going at it? Probably, but his resentment negated the shame. His eyes only brushed past Itachi's crimson gaze as they settled on Sasuke's, still widened in shock. He fixed his former teammate with the deadliest glare he could muster. For some reason he couldn't explain, he had never disliked Sasuke to this extent before. It was as if he resented him for all the bad things in his life. Sasuke tried in vain to find clothes of some kind. He had hastily slipped on Itachi's cloak, the nearest thing at hand, and stood to face the blond.

Naruto almost laughed at the absurdity. In that cloak, there was no difference between Sasuke and Itachi. He let a bitter smile cross his face.

"So, this is where you are. Everyone's been looking for you, but I guess we shouldn't have worried."

He purposely made his voice arrogant and dismissive, and he immediately got a response.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Sasuke almost hissed at him, eyes full of both rage and pain. Naruto was smugly satisfied with whatever emotion Sasuke gave him. If he was going to feel crappy about this, he didn't want to be the only one.

"Oh, don't I? Wasn't that your brother you were just fucking?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "You shouldn't be one to talk; you fucked him just last night."

Naruto was visibly surprised, but he brushed it off quickly enough. "Wasn't it enough, Sasuke? Won't it ever be enough for you!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The village! Us! Your friends, remember? They all risked their lives to save you, but you just don't care!" he paused to let the words sink in while his eyes ghosted over to the older Uchiha.

"Itachi…" he whispered. The man had stood quiet and still throughout the entire exchange – or at least Naruto thought he had, but sometime during his exchange with Sasuke, Itachi had gotten dressed. Instinctively, Naruto gravitated towards him. But Sasuke stepped deftly in front of him before he could take even two steps forward.

"No, Naruto," his eyes almost pleaded. "You don't want to do that."

Confused and betrayed, his temper flared. "Don't tell me what to do!" He tried to get around his best friend, but was met with an unmovable wall. "Stay out of this, Sasuke! You wouldn't understand; no one's ever hated you for something you never did!" He had to fight the tears now; he simply refused to cry in front of Sasuke.

"You think I don't understand? Why do you think I get so much special attention, huh? It's because they're afraid I'll turn out like my bloodthirsty brother! They're afraid I'll go crazy and decide to kill everyone! It's like living in a cage. Is that how you feel? Is it!"

He had grabbed Naruto's collar. Never in their friendship had they had an argument like this before.

"Well, at least you were acknowledged! At least you existed! I was no one. No one cared. It was always 'Sasuke this', and 'Sasuke that'. I lived in a million shadows, most of all yours!" Naruto fisted the cloak.

"I can't help the way people feel!" Sasuke retorted, shoving Naruto away. "Don't patronize me."

"You could've helped the way I felt! You could've at least once acted like you cared…" Naruto shoved back at him, but Sasuke had frozen. The words were so familiar to him…

Naruto's voice had gone quiet, his eyes deadly cold. "Of all the people in the world, why did you have to love him?"

Naruto had gotten him again. He took the opportunity to punch Sasuke squarely in the face, sending him reeling. Sasuke dazedly stood up straight and wiped away the blood on his lips, glaring.

"I don't love him. What the hell's your problem?"

Naruto's eyes had taken a maniacal gleam. "Everybody chooses you over me. Just once, couldn't you just let me have someone for me?" He practically shouted the last word, reaching for a kunai and throwing it hard at Sasuke. The younger Uchiha had just enough time to dodge, and the weapon landed with a loud thud in the tree behind him. Both genin now took a fighting stance, circling each other like hungry predators.

From the shadows, Itachi watched with a satisfied smirk.

"Do you actually think he cares about you?" Sasuke countered, voice rising. "He's just using you, and you know it!"

The kunai he'd just thrown came whizzing back at his head.

"Shut up!" Naruto demanded, his head aching terribly. "He understood. He didn't hate me for what I am, and he understood!" Naruto took the offensive, not bothering to use any fancy jutsu and instead opting for the old-fashioned approach. Punch them till they're down.

"You're a fool, Naruto! He only wants the Kyuubi. Why can't you see!" The two danced an intricate dance of personal fears, blocking and attacking heatedly.

_'You were never good enough for him.'_

The thought drifted lazily into Sasuke's mind.

"You were never good enough for him!"

Finally, it seemed as if Sasuke had broken Naruto. He didn't know what had prompted him to say it, but it seemed he had crossed a line. The blond stopped attacking and merely stared at nothing, tears streaming down his face. Then, without warning, Naruto's entire body seemed to seize up. His eyes widened, and turned the most malicious red. Chakra started to pour forth from his body in a ball of scarlet flame. Sasuke stood, aghast, as the power of the Kyuubi no Kitsune slowly poured forth. He had seen it happen before, but something was different about it this time. Naruto had no apparent control over the transformation. It was as if the fox itself were actually free.

-

"Huh?" Kakashi sensed the sudden change in the atmosphere, and turned from his path. It was coming from the core of the forest, the darker hidden part that no one wanted to enter. Cautiously, he followed the trail of gnarled trees until a wall of massive tree trunks blocked his way.

It was strange to him that trees grew in such a manner, but the dead giveaway was the enormous amount of chakra that was emanating from the other side. He placed a hand against the trunk, and it went right through. His eyes narrowed; so it was an illusion after all.

He'd been wondering why everything seemed to look the same. In retrospect, he should've realized it sooner. But the caster was subtle enough to add some distinctiveness to each part of his illusion, so that Kakashi had been deceived for a good period of time. Frustrated, he lifted his forehead protector and used his sharingan to examine the area. The illusion was easier to detect, but he knew he still had to be extremely careful. Taking a deep breath, he stepped through the trees and into the waiting unknown.

**TBC**

* * *

_AN:_ Ok, I know, technically Itachi needs to have eye contact with people to use illusions on them, but let's assume he's developed a new power that allows him to cast an illusion around a certain area. 


	5. Puppeteer

**Twisted Desires**

_Disclaimer:_ This is a purely non-profit story for entertainment purposes only. The characters of Naruto belong to their respective owners.

_Author's Notes:_ I'm really very behind on my chapters now, so updates will take a little more time. Already this story seems to have no future to me (laughs). If you like it so far, I'm glad, and I thank those who reviewed. The problem is that there was never really a plot to this; it was just an excuse to get the two brothers together. Ah well; what's done is done, and I will try to finish it as best I can.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Sasuke found that he couldn't move; couldn't even try to move. Things were spiralling out of control faster than he could handle, and there was no one around to stop it. No one around to save him…

_"Don't kill me!"_

His own desperate words floated back into his mind, jarringly fresh. The coppery smell of blood was strangely unsullied to his cauterized mind, and somewhere in his head the same lazy voice was _laughing_…

With renewed anger, he snapped back to his senses and looked around for Itachi, but his brother was nowhere in sight. He cursed his own stupidity; too late did he realize they had just been played. That they had played exactly into Itachi's hands.

With this awareness, he started to see just how well Itachi had planned. It was no accident that he had seen Naruto and Itachi together that night; Itachi had known it all along. He was willing to bet that Naruto showing up hadn't been a coincidence, either. And his brother had gone after him, found him and stripped him and touched him, all because he knew that in some twisted way, Sasuke would respond. That Sasuke couldn't escape being jealous of the way he had touched Naruto, couldn't help his own yearning…

Feeling sick, his hand instinctively went to the pouch that was no longer on his leg. He had already forgotten his own situation, Itachi's cloak covering his bare body. Frantically he tried to find any weapon he possibly could. His own weapons were too far out of reach, behind Naruto's rapidly rising chakra. There wouldn't be enough time; he needed to do something now. He had long since lost sight of Naruto's eyes; the once startlingly blue orbs were now a disarray of the same malevolent crimson as the foreign chakra emanating from his body. He concentrated on his own feeble life force, still recovering from multiple wounds. It was weak, but he thought there was enough. He would have enough energy to power up chidori, but there would only be one chance; would he have enough power to stop Naruto?

Seeing no other alternative, he convinced himself that it _must_ be enough. He didn't even stop to think what would happen if it wasn't. Focusing everything, he started to gather a sapphire sphere in his hand. Electricity crackled as different energies met in brief destructive interference. Sasuke closed his eyes.

It _had_ to be enough; there was no other possibility.

-

Itachi watched with satisfaction as the Kyuubi exerted its will on the weakened body of its prison. This was what they had been hoping for; a voluntary release resulting from emotional turmoil. Even if they had managed to capture the Kyuubi (which they would have undoubtedly done), they still didn't know how to tap into its power. Their information stated that the seal could only be released if the host body allowed the fox some freedom, or if the host was so far beyond control that the Kyuubi could release itself, feeding on anger and fear.

The Akatsuki owed him a hefty sum.

His contentment was short-lived as a trigger went off in the back of his mind. His eyes narrowed; there was someone in his illusion… and someone who could cause trouble, no doubt. He surveyed the scene before him once again, his naïve brother helpless to stop the ensuing transformation. The kitsune was emerging, but now it was not fast enough. With the amount of energy being given off, even the most amateur ninja would be able to pass through his illusion and find this place. If he wanted to see the whole show, he'd have to throw in some obstacles.

-

Kakashi ducked as a slew of shuriken whizzed by his head. He wasn't sure if they were real or not, but he didn't feel like taking that chance.

Obviously he had set off some alarms somewhere, because all sorts of things were being thrown at him. Whereas before he had been able to concentrate expressly on following the trail of chakra, he now had to use his sharingan to scan everything before being able to move forward. It was such a waste of time that Kakashi had taken to simply avoiding everything, real or otherwise.

That strategy only worked for so long when a 'fake' shuriken causes you to bleed. But under that mindset, Kakashi argued (with himself) that the blood was probably fake, too. The pain felt real enough, but then he'd had some bad experiences with illusionary injuries. Of course, the whole thing was very roundabout. The only thing he did know was that if he didn't make it there soon, there would be more than fake blood to contend with.

-

It was finally ready. The ball of energy sat animatedly in his hand, flaring its power. Sasuke fought to remain in control as chidori slightly waned; never had his own power seemed so insubstantial to him before.

He knew this was it; there would be no more chances. If he failed now, it could be his worse failure to date – to top off an annoyingly long list of failures in his life. Some part of him worried that he would hurt Naruto… but another part reasoned that the Kyuubi would most likely protect him. Besides, the little voice said, Naruto's not the one who's going to die soon unless he does something about it!

As he was about to release chidori, he hesitated. 'Why did it come to this?' his mind asked. 'Why are you here?' He could only answer that he'd been stupid; stupid to not see traps when they're laid out in front of him, stupid to not appreciate what he had, just plain stupid. Why didn't he just stay? Why didn't he just listen to the idiot?

_'If you hadn't been so weak, none of this would've happened.'_

With a roar, he put all the power he had left in him behind the attack. Chidori whizzed through the air, a sizzling azure blaze. Naruto had not looked up, and hadn't reacted, but somehow Sasuke doubted he was still in the realm of reality. Naruto was far, far away, and all that was left was the anger of this demon…

In a burst of light so blindingly radiant, chidori collided full force with the outer edges of the Kyuubi's chakra. The force of the blast knocked him flat off his feet and sent him sprawling a few feet away. The miasma of dust floated for an interminably long period of time, never seeming to fall or fade. When he had righted himself and glanced over to inspect the damage, Sasuke's heart leapt; the chakra had disappeared.

But he was wrong. When all the dirt had finally fallen, it revealed an unfazed Naruto standing in the same spot as before, not a single scratch on him. The chakra had not disappeared as he had thought, but had simply been muted as a lot of it had been expended to negate Sasuke's assault. As he watched, more chakra poured forth from Naruto in rivulets that encompassed his body.

Sasuke felt utterly defeated. He had no chakra left, no weapons… how was he supposed to beat this thing? He had failed; completely and absolutely. Just as the thought entered his mind, a brief glint out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Sparing a quick look over, he found none other than the kunai he had flung at Naruto's head, laying just beyond arm's reach. Like a drowning man, Sasuke darted over to the discarded weapon and picked it up in sheer reverence. He didn't know what he was going to do with it, but it had to be good for something.

"Naruto! Naruto, goddamn it, snap out of it!" He had to shout to overpower the sound of the wind that had picked up along with the Kyuubi's chakra. Naruto didn't hear him or didn't care; most likely, it was a mixture of both. In any case, it didn't matter; nothing mattered anymore.

His last-ditch attempt came to him on the spur of the moment. He had nothing but a kunai that would be useless if he threw it, so he'd have to deliver it to the recipient on his own. The big problem was getting around all that chakra; it wouldn't be impossible, but it'd darn well be painful. Resigned, he fervently gripped the hard metal between his fingers as he studied the pattern of energy. All the 'streams', as he called them, gathered at the top and bottom of the sphere, and all the energy flowed in the same direction. Occasionally, each stream would shoot off a flare or two, hissing as it disrupted its neighbour. There was no visible pattern between each flare, so he targeted what he thought was the least volatile of them all and grit his teeth. Naruto had better thank him for saving his sorry ass.

He righted his balance and took a fighting stance. Pushing back on both his feet as hard as he could, he propelled himself forward to maximum velocity. He knew he'd need to be going extremely fast to get past that barrier of chakra, and his clumsy feet felt far too slow. The ball of orange flame was growing exponentially as he got nearer, and, with a desperate cry, he brought the kunai into contact with the Kyuubi's power.

**TBC**

* * *


	6. Raw

**Twisted Desires**

_Disclaimer:_ This is a purely non-profit story for entertainment purposes only. The characters of Naruto belong to their respective owners.

_Author's Notes:_ I feel terribly weary. I'd forgotten what it took to successfully finish a multi-chaptered story. A shorter chapter than usual, but I didn't want to add this part to the last chapter, or morph it into the next chapter. I guess this is one of those scenes where everything is in slow motion, so even though it **looks** shorter, it's really the same? Just think... Dragonball Z style. Half of a fight sequence takes a whole episode! J

Thank you to those who have been kind enough to leave their comments. After all, feedback is a writer's nourishment.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Kakashi winced in pain as three shuriken embedded themselves in his bruised flesh. One had caught him in the ankle, grating the sensitive nerves over the bone. The other two were placed in perfect symmetry on either side of his shoulder blades, cutting the stringy ligaments. Angrily he pulled out the projectile weapon from his ankle, but left the other two where they were. He was getting rather tired of this sorry old dance, and he knew he was almost there. All he had to do was convince himself that none of it was real…

A kunai slashed his arm with alarming atrocity. All an illusion. Blood spilled in a glutinous dollop down his sleeve. It was all an illusion…

-

The kunai had, as he predicted, deflected the chakra upon contact, and became his greatest asset as he fought his way closer and closer to Naruto. Tiny as it seemed, he found it invaluable in saving himself from serious injury; whenever he saw a flare of chakra coming his way, he would deftly block it and continue on his way.

But he couldn't block them all. Even with his sharingan in use, it didn't matter. Despite how fast he was at dodging, how quickly he could block, how swiftly he made his way through the expanding cage of energy, he was still hit a good amount of the time; and, aside from his wounded pride, the burns stung like nothing he'd ever experienced. With every step, his determination died; he didn't seem to be making any progress at all. But then he would hear Itachi's voice, so clearly mocking that his resolve would return and he would fight on.

Naruto's form was getting closer. If he looked at him from a certain angle, he even thought he could see a trace of the blue beneath all that scarlet…

Itachi watched from afar as his brother tried in vain to stop the unstoppable. Disappointed as he was with Sasuke's slow progress, he had to secretly admit that he was impressed the runt had gotten as close to the Kyuubi as he had. But it really was of no consequence; Itachi always won in the end.

Naruto was only a few feet in front of him now. He stopped to regain his breath, his entire body scarred. It was like being in the eye of the storm; while all around him this massive energy raged, inside the core it was as calm as a carefree summer day. The wind whipped his hair in his eyes, causing them to sting with tears. He brushed them away in irritation; he had a job to complete. Taking a deep breath, he took his biggest leap of faith and ran full force at Naruto, plunging the scuffed metal straight at the other genin's heart.

Itachi smiled cruelly as Sasuke was thrown back, the Kyuubi's chakra protecting its host's body. Sasuke got up limply and gripped the metal in frustration. What else was left? This had been the last of the last, unless he wanted to punch it out. He glared at the blond; Naruto could be so infuriating!

He tried to grab Naruto's shoulders, fully willing to shake him out of it, but the chakra burned his hands and he immediately drew them away.

"Naruto! Naruto! You're so stupid, Naruto! Can't you see he's using you? Using us?" The wind was blowing more hair in his eyes, and they watered once again.

"Why won't you listen? Why won't you ever listen to me!" He grabbed Naruto's shoulders again and held on longer this time, but eventually let go as the smell of burned flesh reached his nostrils.

"If you only listen to me once in your whole life, listen to me now! You're the only one who can stop this!" He clutched Naruto's shoulders a third time, not caring what it did to his hands. He shook Naruto as hard as he could, fighting the agonizing pain that screamed for him to let go.

"You can't do this, Naruto! I won't let you!"

And, for a reason he could never truly explain, the most moronic memory flashed across his mind. It consisted of Naruto squatting on a desk, a glaring match, an untimely jab, and the entire female population of the academy beating the blond to a pulp.

For whatever crazy reason he had, Sasuke held on tight to the smouldering pain as he gently pressed his lips to Naruto's.

-

It was like someone had flicked a light switch and dimmed the little amount of illumination that existed in the first place. He froze, feeling all the pores of his skin pulsate with every heartbeat. The blood that screamed in his ears made his fingers twitch in anticipation as he braced himself for what was to come.

If he had expected some sort of massive attack, he would have to be disappointed. All the came out of the darkness was a faint shuffling sound of lazy feet as they ghosted over the dried grass, and a figure that emerged seamlessly from behind one of many trees. He turned to face the intruder fully, body and mind both poised. He was so sure that he was ready for anything, that for a moment he forgot about everything else.

His eyes narrowed as he set his sharingan to work, calculating if this was an illusion. He was puzzled when he found that he didn't have an answer – not an illusion, yet not real. He took a step back as the figure advanced, slowly letting the light reveal his identity. And for a moment, just another moment, he forgot everything once again.

The eye that was not his seared with pain as it looked upon its original owner.

-

Naruto blinked dazedly at the face hovering in front of his. For some reason unknown to him, his lips were tingling in a way that was altogether much too pleasant, an outlandish feeling in the midst of the situation (whatever that may be). He had never known such a thing before; nor had he ever known Uchiha Sasuke, emotionless avenger that he was, to shed a single tear.

The said genin was smiling at Naruto in a way he'd never seen, tears falling from his bright eyes. He couldn't understand what had just occurred, but he figured he'd missed a pretty important chunk of it.

"Uhh… Sasuke? What happened?" he asked dully, looking around him in confusion. Instead of being berated for his idiocy, Sasuke merely smiled at him; Naruto noticed with a sort of mystified delight that he seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

"You're a dork, you know that?" There was the expected insult, but it was still said with a smile. "You owe me big time."

A frown creased Naruto's features. This couldn't be a fake Sasuke, could it? Or maybe he was just dreaming? He couldn't recall very much at all, and his friend wasn't doing a very good job at explaining; nothing made sense! As he stood contemplating these all-too-confusing questions, he suddenly felt a searing pain in his side. Looking down, he realized with horror that Sasuke had just stabbed him with the blunted kunai in his grip and had twisted the weapon. Blood was flowing everywhere from his sizeable wound.

He could only look up to see Sasuke's strangely stricken face, and he mouthed wordlessly as his body fell, lifeless, to the embrace of the uncaring ground.

**TBC**

**

* * *

**


	7. Corporeality

**Twisted Desires**

_Disclaimer:_ This is a purely non-profit story for entertainment purposes only. The characters of Naruto belong to their respective owners.

_Author's Notes:_ Not a particularly long chapter (and not a great chapter), but if I didn't update now it'd be almost another month until this gets posted. I'm officially out of pre-written stuff now, so from this point on updates will come when the muses permit. I'm hoping to have the next chapter up sometime around the holidays, so Merry Christmas to all in advance.

Thank you to lovely reviewers, who make my day(s) a little brighter.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

"Obito."

His hands, held together in concentration, drooped slightly. He was in utter disbelief, completely ignoring all else and focusing only on his old friend, back from the grave. Obito looked almost the same, but it was now a grown-up version of his comrade rather than the boy he had last seen. Obito wore his forehead protector in the same fashion as Kakashi himself usually did, with one side leaning down to cover the expanse of his left eye – the one he no longer had. The jounin was still bewildered; how could it be?

When the initial shock wore off sufficiently, his ninja training instincts kicked in and told him immediately that this wasn't real. He believed it, but he didn't want to believe. After all the years of loneliness and guilt, it would've been so easy to simply accept a lie. If only someone had been there to lie to him then, when the accursed eye had been given to him. If someone had told him things would be all right back then, he would've believed it.

It took a heart-wrenching effort to make him face the truth, and his despair soon turned to anger. How dare someone use the memory of Obito with such disrespect? He had been anxious; now he felt only uncontrollable rage.

"How nice of you to join me," he said testily, heart pounding faster than it had ever done before. "But I think you forgot the fact that you're dead."

The Obito-thing (he resorted to calling it a thing, since it didn't seem possible to categorize it any other way) smiled maniacally at him.

"Is that any way to treat an old friend?" it asked, amused by his anger.

"My friends are all buried. I guess I'll have to do that for you personally."

Uncharacteristically, Kakashi took the offensive and started to form a jutsu. He was interrupted halfway by the thing throwing multiple kunai at him, which he had to dodge using a replacement jutsu. He retreated to the protection of a nearby branch, contemplating his next move.

'_I don't even know if this thing will die if I attack it.'_

He didn't know if he wanted to waste energy trying to destroy something that was already dead, but if he left without disabling it, that could prove a problem later on. He watched as the thing on the ground surveyed its surroundings, still wearing that sadistic smile on its deformed face. It creeped him out immensely.

"Come now, Kakashi. I just want to talk to you," it drawled in Obito's voice, yet not sounding like Obito at all. "I just want my eye back."

It lifted the forehead protector to reveal a gory mound of raw flesh surrounding a gaping socket of nothing. Kakashi felt like he was going to puke.

"I can see you."

He only had time to blink before shuriken came whizzing at his hiding spot, all aimed at his torso. He found it difficult to concentrate given the circumstances, and cursed himself for such a weakness. Suddenly the thing was behind him, dead-smelling breath brushing across his skin. He was startled at the closeness, having never let an opponent that close to him before without realizing it. His legs reacted quickly, and he was out of range before any harm could come to him. He turned around and blinked in surprise as some shuriken that had been flying at his head suddenly stopped in mid-air and fell lifeless to the ground. His hand – ready to defend – paused. The Obito-thing, also in mid-air and grinning insanely, had dissipated into a cloud of dust and echoing laughter. Someone had blatantly given up on him, or was simply more distracted by other things. Although he himself was still distracted, he was not slow to realize that the colossal chakra had dissipated into nothing.

He honestly couldn't say that it worried him less than before.

-

There had been no time to cry out, no time to even react. As he tried to stem the flow of his irritated eyes (he refused to admit they were tears), Itachi had suddenly manifested himself directly behind Naruto. Sasuke's eyes widened as his throat tried to form some sort of sound, any sound, to warn Naruto of the impending danger. But Itachi's mesmerizing eyes, now in their usual deadly glare, had paralysed him. All he could do was stare, revolted, as his brother controlled the actions of his body.

With his entire being screaming against it, Sasuke had plunged the kunai still in his hand deep into Naruto's abdomen.

He tried to tear his eyes away, but it was no use. In some distant corner, the furthest of the furthest recesses of his mind, a part of him found it almost funny that Itachi seemed to be so angry with him, so _affected_. He had never managed to get Itachi riled. If it weren't for the direness of the situation, Sasuke felt that he could've even smiled smugly at his devil of a brother.

But as things stood, he was disgusted as Itachi controlled his hands and forced them to twist the kunai that was implanted in Naruto's side. He felt the sickening tear of muscles and flesh, felt the warm blood flow over his traitorous fingers and knuckles in rivulets. By the time Itachi had released him, it was too late; he could do nothing as his former teammate looked up at him with betrayed eyes, as Naruto tried to form the word that was stuck in his throat. Although no sound was ever emitted, Sasuke's heart wrenched as he deciphered exactly what the genin had tried to say.

'_Why?'_

Tears streamed down his face freely as Naruto fell limply to the ground. Itachi stood motionless as the blond crumbled between them; the look he wore was one of sheer contempt and arrogance.

"Foolish brother," he practically hissed. "Don't you know by now not to interfere?"

With his body still frozen, Itachi harshly grabbed his face and claimed his lips for a rough kiss – inflaming his senses with the freshness of blood. In a strange way, he was happy he wasn't able to respond to it; if he had the choice, he didn't know what his own reaction would be. When Itachi finally pulled away, Sasuke only had time to run his tongue over his bruised lips before Itachi disappeared in the blink of an eye.

It took Sasuke a moment to realize that he had the use of his body once again, and he immediately dropped to his knees, intent on seeing how Naruto was. When he fell down beside nothing but thin air, he still didn't comprehend. It was Itachi's cruel laugh floating to him on the breeze that told him the truth.

"Naruto! No! NOOOOO!"

The last thing he saw before he fell unconscious was a little boy creating nothing but a tiny spark of a flame…

-

He could hear voices; hushed, hurried voices, talking about a conspiracy.

"Will he be ok?"

"Who knows… word is he was pretty beaten up."

Except these voices weren't familiar, or accusatory. That was new.

"What's she going to do about it?"

"I don't know, but I wouldn't want to be her for all the world right now."

A pause, as if to phrase the next sentence properly.

"And the other one?"

"I hear he wasn't there when Kakashi found _him_. Seems like he was taken away."

He fought to open his eyes to the light on the other side of his eyelids.

"Someone said something about a lot of blood…"

"Pools of it. Trees all broken and twisted and everything…"

"Why was he in that cloak?"

Here the voices stopped, as if knowing they were crossing a line.

"Who knows? But it's definitely something to think about…"

The light was too blinding for him at first, and he squinted heavily against such an assault to the senses. Slowly, as his eyes adjusted, he was able to survey his surroundings. He was lying down, as far as he could tell in his disoriented state, in a room that was unknown to him. The voices had stopped now. He wondered vaguely if they had been in his head, but he'd never heard of female voices in a guy's head before. He moved to get up, but as soon as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, his vision suddenly blurred and the room moved in strange contortions of light.

"Don't try to get up," a voice said calmly as he felt strong arms support him. He closed his eyes and was grateful that upon re-opening them, the world was right again.

Except it wasn't.

"Na-Naruto," he said weakly, lips cracked and voice hoarse. He looked up into Kakashi's worriedly neutral face as the silver-haired man shook his head.

"He wasn't there when I found you…"

Something told him that Naruto wasn't the problem.

"What is it?" he asked somewhat sternly as the world spun again. He looked at Kakashi once more, trying to read his former sensei's face.

"You need to rest." Kakashi stated, turning away from his questioning eyes. "I'll be back lat—"

"Don't dismiss me!" Sasuke's pride took control, and in his haste he lunged for the jounin's sleeve. His mangled hands screamed their rage and the world kept on spinning, so he closed his eyes for good.

"Lie down," Kakashi ordered even as his hands were pushing down on Sasuke's shoulders. He felt the warm linen of the bed touch his back, and realized for the first time that he wasn't in his own clothes. Suddenly the voices made sense.

"Please," he asked desperately, not opening his eyes. He wished he could've seen Kakashi's expression at that moment, the expression to go along with that sound of slight shuffling that was a telltale sign of nervousness. He wished he could've seen his face, because Kakashi's voice as he told him was so ridiculously neutral.

"When I found you, the curse seal was all over your body."

**TBC**

* * *

_AN:_ The plot thickens! (Or does it?) There is a semblance of a plot, though - a mini plot. Everything seems corny when you read it a second time... 


	8. Self Reflection

**Twisted Desires**

_Disclaimer:_ This is a purely non-profit story for entertainment purposes only. The characters of Naruto belong to their respective owners.

_Author's Notes:_ Sorry for the delay. To make up for it, I made this chapter especially long! It's rather melodramatic, and not too much happens, but the plot is about to reach its climax. Thank you to all the lovely reviewers that make my day.

* * *

**Chapter 8**

She couldn't recall when her life had been more hectic. What with all the young ninjas turning rogue and having to hunt them down and bring them back, and the constant lookout for Orochimaru, and this Hokage business, she had absolutely no time to think, let alone anything else. Her gambling addiction was severely demanding attention, and she couldn't do a thing about it.

"Where is it?" she muttered darkly to herself, sifting through the mounds of scrolls that littered her desk. "How could I have lost it _already_?"

She overturned and discarded things, she opened and closed things, she cut and broke things, until finally Tsunade gave it up as a lost cause.

"Goddamn!"

In her frustration, she kicked one of the open drawers of her desk shut, cursing at the pain coursing through her foot as the drawer slammed shut with an echoing sort of clang.

"What?" she momentarily forgot the throbbing as she reached out a tentative hand to pull open the drawer again. It could have been her imagination, but something told her drawers did not sound like that. She slid the rectangular box open and peered inside, trying to locate any foreign objects that could cause such a noise. When her eyes found nothing out of the ordinary, she thought that she was really losing it. Clanging sounds in your brain weren't good, right?

But as she was pushing the container back to its resting position, her left eye noted a small crack between the horizontal and vertical planks, a sort of oval-shaped fissure that most likely was not natural. She emptied the contents of the drawer – scrolls and pens and scissors went flying – and managed to wedge the nail of her tiniest finger into the crack.

"This better be something good if I'm breaking a nail for it," she murmured to herself, trying to lever the wood off. At first it only creaked and groaned, but with a few more tries she had it free – and was rather disappointed at what she saw.

"A scroll? All that for a scroll!"

Although indignant, Tsunade wasn't about to let all that effort be wasted (part of her realized that something hidden was probably something important). She carefully picked up the dusty cylinder – a strangely small volume compared to the standard size. She brushed the dust off the canister and slid the paper out, noting that it didn't appear to be as old as she previously anticipated. Not knowing what to expect, she sat down on her chair and began to read.

Her eyes widened. "This is—"

---

He didn't know how he was supposed to take the news. Did Kakashi actually expect some sort of reply?

Uncomfortable, Sasuke kept his eyes firmly closed. What was he supposed to do? Once again, his brother had manipulated him and he got his ass handed back to him on a silver platter, except this time he wasn't the one taking the punishment. How was he supposed to fix it? How was everything going to be all right? He just didn't know what he was supposed to do anymore, and Kakashi was being a bastard about it.

"Sasuke, look at me."

He wanted to scream that if he could, he would've done it a long time ago. If he could face those eyes (the dark one that berated him openly, the hated one that berated him through fabric), he wouldn't be lying on a hospital bed, bleeding and broken and without a future. Was that what Kakashi was trying to say? That he didn't have a future?

He'd figured that out a long time ago.

"Sasuke, look—"

"**And what if I don't want to fucking look at you!**" he screamed, fighting the sting in his eyes as his Sharingan flashed. He could only hold Kakashi's worried gaze for so long as the red bled away. "What if I can't stand it?"

He whispered the last few words to himself, eyes seeking another source of comfort. Morbidly, he saw the Akatsuki cloak he had been clothed in folded neatly on a nearby chair, bloodstains evident through the black. There was silence between them now; only silence could speak.

---

The words ran by her eyes in seizure-inducing flashes.

_TEN NO JUIN (1)_

Something about the world changing in a day or an instant or something of the sort drifted to her, as her shaking hands wouldn't let her move.

_TEN NO JUIN_

Shouldn't she do something? Yes, yes, of course. But what?

_TEN NO JUIN_

The hospital. Right. She had to get to the hospital. How could this be happening?

---

Was this how it had happened? He couldn't remember. So often his dreams had mingled with reality that he had created an entirely new universe, where only the sweetest wines mingled. He was inclined to believe it was real because of its bitter aftertaste, but he couldn't fool himself into thinking that _he_ had been that gentle. So how did it happen, exactly?

All he remembers is the sound of running water and sunshine. Yes… there had been a lot of light that day. He remembers the light because it was what drove him to the river – to the shade of the evergreens and the shy spray of water over cold stone. He remembers that he had contemplated about catching one of the abundant fish and frying it on the heated rocks, but deciding against it because it would've ruined the natural peace that had spread through him. He can't remember how he got there, or why he was alone at the outskirts of the forest, far too far from town. That is what convinces him it is a dream; the conditions are too perfect for his liking.

Then _he_ appears – the storm cloud, the sunset, the walking shadow. He is both gentle and cruel, his touches soft but his skin like fire itself. He claims he has followed the river, but something about his smile makes the blue-eyed boy distrust him – more than he is told to, more than is reasonable. All the same, he can't help himself when this handsome familiar stranger leans in to caress his face, exciting his deepest sensations. He can't help the way his body responds when this man moves to claim him, when he is beyond coherent thought and moans the man's name. He can't help liking the way it feels to be wanted, and he figures it's okay that the man's face sometimes shifts into one that is more familiar to him, one that is angry and sorrowful.

He even forgives himself for returning to that river again, for training too deep in the woods because he knew _he_ was nearby. When the second, and the third, and even the fourth time happened (entirely accidental, he assured himself), he hadn't felt guilty. It wasn't the biggest mistake. He had tried to break apart, tried to convince himself that none of it mattered and he was being used, but the feeling wouldn't cease. What exactly was love? Being stupid in life wasn't uncommon, but then he had crossed the line.

His line was the ability to convince himself of coincidence, rather than knowing it was all planned.

---

When she was standing in front of the door, she feared the worst as nothing but silence greeted her. Surely even Sasuke wouldn't be foolish enough to try escaping in his condition? Wryly she found it almost amusing that she thought of his leaving as "escape" when Konoha was, in fact, his real home. When had he been cast from their ranks, even though they had at first still welcomed him?

Temporary relief numbed her pounding heart as she saw a lump in the bed upon entering, but fled just as quickly when she realized that Kakashi still had not left; two geniuses locked in a war of wills. She had, inevitably, walked in on something disastrous.

"I'm glad you're both here," she lied pleasantly, if only to loosen the atmosphere.

Kakashi only greeted her with a brief nod of the head, and Sasuke cast her the most trivial glance before feigning sleep once more. After what she had just been put through, the attitude irked her.

"I'd prefer if you listen in on this, Sasuke, since it could be the difference between life and death."

It had the desired effect; Kakashi's eye swivelled and pinned itself to her face, while Sasuke opened his eyes long enough to glare at her. In the pit of her stomach, she realized with consternation that this kid didn't care whether or not he died; he just didn't want to die until he done what he wanted to do. Where, she wondered, had all the youthful innocence in the village gone?

Taking a shaky breath, she hesitantly began to tell them what she found.

---

She was just returning from her weekly round of herb gathering, the smell of crushed leaves and pine trees still inflaming her senses. She had loathed the job at first, but now found that with everything else that was going on, this was the only time she had to relax. There was something about greenery that soothed her, calming her frizzled nerves and overrun mind. In this state of temporary peace, she was in no rush to make it back to Tsunade.

The breeze tickled her face and she smiled, basking in the sunshine. If only for a moment, she wanted to forget everything.

"Oh my god! Do they know what happened?"

It was only a hurried whisper from two nearby women at a grocery stall, but something about the way it was said made her stop. She edged nearer, pretending to look over the vegetables. Absently, she picked up a tomato and fiddled with it.

"No, nothing yet. But get this…"

The two women leaned in close.

"They say he was wearing the black cloak, and his eyes were as red as the clouds on them."

The tomato dropped from her hand and splattered the ground with droplets of red.

She ran blindly, the basket of herbs tucked into the crook of her elbow entirely forgotten. They had brought Sasuke back? It seemed too unreal to be true, yet she wanted to believe it so badly that her heart ached. Why had no one told her? What if something awful had happened? Her feet wouldn't move fast enough.

She finally arrived, dishevelled and out of breath, at the medical counter.

"Sakura!" the medic-nin greeted, evidently surprised at the image-conscious girl's appearance.

"Sa… Sasu… ke…" she panted, hoping that was enough for the woman to understand.

Her mouth formed a little 'oh' of understanding. "He's in 117. But he's—"

"Thank you!" she interrupted before the other woman could finish her sentence, and darted off down the hallway.

"Sakura, wait!" But she didn't listen. All her thoughts were with Sasuke.

---

"It's not pretty," Tsunade informed them. "We didn't have much information about this seal before, except for the sparse knowledge that Anko had on the subject. Based on this information, I think we have good reason to be far more concerned than we are now."

She arrived at the door to muffled voices and paused, hand hovering uncertainly over the doorknob. Curious, she pressed her ear to the wood, intent on finding out what was going on.

"So what you're saying is that if we don't do something… Sasuke will die?" A deep, slow voice – somewhat muted. Kakashi. A shiver of fear travelled the length of her spine.

A short pause, some rustling, "In essence, yes." A woman's voice – sharp and soft. Tsunade. "The seal would gradually take over his body, so that he would be entirely dependent on the power of the seal."

"But we knew this before," Kakashi's voice countered. "It was never deemed fatal."

"Let me finish," Tsunade explained calmly. "Not only would the seal take over his body, but it would do so by decreasing his chakra until he had none left. In order to stay alive, he would need to have the seal activated at all times. His body wouldn't be able to take that kind of pressure for more than a day." _(2)_

Her ear was starting to hurt. She had pressed herself so tightly against the doorframe that should anyone happen to pull it open, she would topple like a stack of potatoes. In the silence, she shifted slightly so she could hear.

"How long would it take for it to become lethal?" Kakashi asked quietly.

"A few more months at most." Someone sighed. "However, the Sandaime Hokage did leave instructions on how to terminate the curse. It's extremely dangerous, and could require a whole day to complete. It would be excruciatingly painful, and there's a good chance that the wearer may die… but I think it's the best option we've got. I've read the technique, and I'm sure I could do it… with the wearer's co-operation." She could imagine the faces turning toward Sasuke.

"No." It was the first word he had spoken throughout the entire exchange. "A few months, you said? That's as much time as I need."

She could feel Kakashi's disapproving stare. "Sasuke, don't be unreasonable."

"I'm being perfectly reasonable," he spat. "Don't tell me what I can and cannot do!"

"We're just trying to help you, Sasuke," Tsunade said quietly. "Doing this won't help you at all."

"**How do you know?**" he seethed. Sakura felt the tears sliding down her face. "You have no idea what it's like! Want to help me? You should have let me die."

She couldn't take it anymore. "Sasuke, please!"

All three occupants turned to look at her as she burst in, sobbing hysterically.

_"Aniki, please!"_

"Please don't do this," she begged through the cascade of tears. "Please say… please tell them you'll…"

_"Tell them you didn't do it! Please, aniki!"_

"Please, Sasuke… don't do this…"

Kakashi politely turned away, and Tsunade regarded her sympathetically. She could barely see past the blur. If only she could see how much she had pained him, perhaps she would've stopped. If only.

_"Please…"_

"**GET OUT!**" Sasuke screamed, not looking at any of them. It scared her enough to stop her tears. "Get out and leave me alone!"

None of them moved. "Didn't you hear me? **I said I wanted to be alone!**"

Kakashi had already moved to the door, and there was a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Come, Sakura."

She stood as still as a doll. For the first time, the red of his eyes had chilled her to the bone.

When the door finally clicked shut behind the three of them, the young Uchiha buried his face in the lumps of the pillow and felt hot trails of moisture slide down his cheeks.

"Itachi… when did I turn into you?"

**TBC**

* * *

_(1)_ Ten no Juin, literally "Cursed Seal of Heaven" – the "technical name" for the curse seal on Sasuke's neck.

_(2)_ Ok, my explanation totally blows – please don't point out the obvious. This was the best I could come up with.


	9. Bonds We Break

**Twisted Desires**

_Disclaimer:_ This is a purely non-profit story for entertainment purposes only. The characters of Naruto belong to their respective owners.

_Author's Notes:_ Incredibly sorry for the long delay in writing this. This isn't a great chapter, but I hope you won't be too disappointed (it's a transition chapter so not much happens). I tried re-reading the story to get myself motivated again; Sasuke's a drama queen, isn't he? (_laughs_) At least that's how I felt after reading the last chapter, but it seemed fitting at the time that I wrote it. Ah, small amusements. Anyway, the next chapter shouldn't take so long… I hope.

Many thanks to the lovely people who leave comments. You guys rock.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

His dreams were troubled.

The colours merged and shifted constantly, and someone would not stop whispering in his ear. Once he was able to discern the shapes around him, he realized he was in the streets of the village. There was a big commotion somewhere to his left. As he instinctively ran past the familiar buildings, he noted mildly that there was something different about them – something different about the whole place. There was no time to dwell on these thoughts, however, as the noise around him grew progressively louder, culminating into a delirious scream. As he rounded the corner, his body froze at the sight before it.

The stench of seared flesh was excruciatingly strong, pervading his senses as he stood in horror. For as far as the eye could see, bodies littered the ground like flakes of snow, and the fear emanating from the remaining shinobi was palpable. Confused, he wondered what could've done such a terrible thing. As soon as he shifted his focus, he understood everything.

Face contorted into an expression of pure rage, the Kyuubi let out a demonic howl. Its fangs were bared as it killed any approaching shinobi with a flick of its tails, trailing destruction in its wake. The strange appearance of the village now made sense; he was 12 years in the past. No one seemed to notice him as more shinobi raced past, shouting commands too distorted by other sounds for him to hear. In his peripheral vision, he caught sight of a flash of yellow and white, streaking away faster than the rest.

"Yondaime-sama!"

The shout had come from one of the shinobi trailing the two flashes of light, and it startled Naruto out of his stupor. He often saw the face of the Yondaime in the village, features chiselled in stone. He had always wanted to meet the man responsible for his misery, wanted to ask him _why_. Through all the turmoil, it had never occurred to him that the Hokage would be present among the ranks.

The two flashes of light stopped. For more reasons than one, Naruto felt his heart drop into his stomach.

"What is it?"

It was as if he were looking into a mirror of his future – an illusion of his older self. With the same blue eyes and mop of brilliant yellow hair, the Yondaime could've passed for his brother.

"We're having trouble evacuating the civilians and moving all the wounded out of the front lines. There aren't enough shinobi to man the exit points and help the medic-nins."

The man swore.

"I'll go."

He hadn't been paying attention to the other flash beside the Hokage before now, but when he finally did he was in for another shock.

"No, Kakashi, I need you here."

There was a smaller version of his sensei standing beside the blond man, almost an identical replica of his current self. He couldn't have been older than fourteen, and Naruto was surprised they let little kids fight in the war.

"I'll be back soon, sensei." He nodded to the other shinobi and was off before the Yondaime had a chance to protest.

The colours blurred again, and the reality faded into a world of black. The last thing he saw before the darkness consumed him was a tiny baby, crying to accuse the heavens.

---

Sasuke refused to talk to anybody who came by to visit him, especially Sakura or Kakashi. For the next few days he was entirely absorbed in his own thoughts, shutting himself up in his room and blatantly refusing entry even to the nurses who brought him food. On the morning of the third day, Sakura once again tried to see him. Feeling a little fearful (she hadn't expected anything like his previous outburst), she knocked on the door.

"Sasuke? It's me. Can I come in?"

When there was only silence, she grew a bit annoyed. "Sasuke, if you don't want me to come in, at least _say_ something."

Still there was no answer. "I'm going to come in if you don't tell me not to!" she threatened. When she still received no reply, indignation started to leave as fear fought its way to the surface. Her knocks were now frantic.

"Sasuke!" she tried to open the door, but found that it was locked. "Sasuke, please, this isn't funny!" Her knuckles were turning red from her pounding. "Sasuke! Sasu—"

"Sakura!" She turned to find Shizune coming towards her. "What's the matter?"

"It's-it's Sasuke," she managed to squeeze out between panicked breaths. "He's locked the door and he's not answering..."

"It's ok, Sakura. Sasuke went out for a walk a little while ago."

"Huh?" Confusion overtook fear. "He went… _outside_? Is he allowed to go outside?"

"Don't worry, there's an ANBU guard with him. He's not going anywhere," Shizune smiled reassuringly. "If you stick around, I'm sure he'll be back soon."

"Oh…" she considered it a moment. "Thank you, but I think I'll try to find him."

"Suit yourself."

---

When he woke to a crackling fire, he was certain that Sasuke had sent him to hell.

"Finally awake?"

Craning his neck to the right, he saw the pale outline of Itachi's face silhouetted against the inky sky, eyes focussed on the flame.

"What…" his voice dissipated into the frosty air. When he tried to speak again, no sound was emitted at all.

"I don't recommend moving," Itachi's voice cut his thoughts short. He had been about to shift his right elbow to prop himself up.

He tried to assess the damage to his own body, but found that the only part he could feel was the throbbing pain from his abdomen. No sooner had his thoughts arrived there than they were redirected back to Sasuke. Casually throwing a stick into the fire, Itachi seemed to be reading his mind.

"If I were you, I would worry more about myself."

"Like the way you worry about me?" he retorted, but only the first few words came out. The Uchiha understood anyway.

"A little more would be healthy," he suggested, never once looking at Naruto. "You should thank me; very soon, you're going to become someone of great importance."

---

It had only taken her a few minutes to check all the public places in town, but she still hadn't found her teammate. There was no use in checking the market or any of the restricted areas because a) Sasuke didn't need groceries at the moment, and b) he wouldn't even be allowed close to anything restricted. The library had occurred to her as well, but she doubted Tsunade-sama would've given him access to that.

Dejected, she finally let herself wander to the bridge, a meeting place for so many of their missions. She was only there for a few minutes before a voice sounded above her.

"Waiting for someone?"

Startled, she looked up to find a familiar masked jounin smiling her.

"Kakashi-sensei!" She smiled almost wryly to herself. On the days they weren't waiting, Kakashi showed up almost immediately. "I was just looking for Sasuke."

"Oh?" he jumped down gracefully from the tree and moved to stand beside her on the rail. They both looked out at the flowing water.

"I was told that he went out for a walk earlier this morning."

"I see. Does that worry you?"

She bit her lip. "Well… I guess it does a little. I mean—Kakashi-sensei, do you think he's going to leave again?"

"I don't know," Kakashi answered after a moment's pause. "But I know that if he tries, we're not going to let him go easily."

She brightened at the prospect. "Yeah, you're right."

Kakashi had never realized how little he knew his third student. Between toning down Naruto's gregariousness and Sasuke's attitude, as well as breaking up their habitual fights, he had very little time left to spare for Sakura.

"I think I'll go back and wait at the medical centre," she said after a while, finding it odd that her teammates weren't around when she was with their sensei. It only reminded her how broken everything was.

"I think that's a good idea." Kakashi's eye smiled. Behind the mask, his lips curved sadly as his thoughts centred on the innocence of children. He didn't even know her well enough to judge whether or not he should've lied.

---

He burst into her office unceremoniously, knocking aside disgruntled guards as he forced his way in.

"I need to talk to you."

She was too weary to be irritated, and only sent the ANBU guard out with a wave of her hand when Sasuke had given the man a pointed look.

"And what would you like to discuss?" she asked with practiced diplomacy, although a part of her really wanted to smack the living daylights out of this kid.

"About this seal…" he began awkwardly, losing his earlier arrogance in the blink of an eye. "I guess I—"

She looked at him expectantly when he cut himself off. "Yes?"

"Look," he started again, a hint of agitation lacing his words. "I don't know what's happened to Naruto – for all we know he could be dead. And I really don't care about removing this seal, even if it'll kill me…"

'_Always trying to defend yourself_,' she thought sadly. '_You're not a stone, Sasuke._'

"Then the point of this dialogue is?"

She seemed to have struck a nerve. "The point is that I'm not going to be like my brother!" His words stumbled out in a rush, as unstoppable as a waterfall. Seeming as if he had heard himself for the first time, Sasuke focused his gaze on the ground. "I don't want to be like… that."

She thought about how much those words had cost him, thought about how much he had hurt Naruto, and then decided to say nothing. When she doesn't reply, his embarrassment leaves him and he levels his dark eyes at hers, their gaze so intent she was tempted to look away.

'_He has the same eyes as **him**_,' she thinks with a touch of consternation. '_That was the same look he gave me before—_'

"What do I have to do?"

**TBC**

* * *


	10. Capitulation

_Disclaimer:_ This is a purely non-profit story for entertainment purposes only. The characters of Naruto belong to their respective owners.

_Author's Notes:_ Ah, that took an eternity. Again, sorry that this took so long (and sorry it's a bit short). The good part is that I know where I'm going and where I'll end up, but the bad part is that it's so difficult for me right now to get there. Thank you so, so much for those who take the time to leave comments. Although I can't say that they help me to work faster necessarily, they do help motivate me to want to work on the story. I will try to update far sooner than that in the future.

And I finally rediscovered the fic that sort of set this whole story off: Triste's _Darkest Desires_, a highly recommended read that explores the relationship between Naruto and Itachi.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

It was the first time he had visited the grave since their return.

He treads on the cobblestones with a trepidation that had never haunted him before. Kakashi had grown accustomed to cemeteries, even remotely fond of them after prolonged exposure. The neat rows were mocking and the grass was too happy for its due, but there was a sense of homeliness in the atmosphere that beckoned to a part of him that he long thought dead. He didn't believe in ghosts, but sometimes he wondered.

If he had expected an answer more than usual today, he would come back disappointed.

"Long time no see." He paused. "Actually… the strangest thing happened to me the other day. This story even has you in it."

And so he talked until his throat was dry, about the _thing _and Sasuke and the weather, and Naruto and Itachi and Sakura. He talked until he could taste the fabric of his mask chaffed into his dry lips, until the midday sun started to peel the skin off the back of his neck, until his own words sounded foreign on his tongue and his thirst was like to kill him. He asked what he should do, what he should say, what he should dream. Unloading his burdens into a plot of dirt, he would finally fall, exhausted by grief, into a deep slumber with his sweat-drenched back against the base of the headstone. When he wakes up – many, many hours later – a sense of calm will shroud his mind.

He didn't believe in ghosts, but sometimes he wondered.

-----

"Are you sure you want to do this?" She had asked him many times before, and his answer had always been the same. Regardless, Tsunade couldn't help asking it again.

"If you're trying to change my mind, it might work pretty soon," he grumbled irritably, looking anywhere but at her face. Tsunade rolled her eyes in exasperation, although she knew his point was valid. She had been hoping, wishing, even _praying_ that Sasuke would change his mind, that he would agree to let her help him, but now that the moment was upon them she found herself hesitant. In preparation for his acquiescence, she had read and re-read the scroll time and again, memorizing every word, every pen stroke. She could recount the process backwards and forwards, could trace every letter with her eyes closed. Why was she so unsure?

"I did mention that this is going to be extremely painfully," she offered unhelpfully, trying to push the thoughts out of her head. "And that you might not survive?"

"If I had bothered to keep count, that was probably the 17th time." He finally turned a glare in her direction, and somehow that served to alleviate her fears.

'_We haven't lost him yet. Not yet.'_

"Look, I just want to make sure that you're positive about—"

"I'm not going to change my mind now."

She sighed, giving him a rueful smile. "You're going to hate me."

"If you say so."

All the materials she needed had been laid out on the medical cart beforehand. They were in an unused room deep inside the medical centre, with the door locked and curtains drawn: Tsunade and Sasuke on the inside, ANBU guards without. Given the situation, she was impressed despite herself at the boy's calmness.

Releasing a slow breath, she reached to touch the curse mark on Sasuke's neck and he flinched back before their skin met. Startled, she gave him an annoyed look.

For his part, he at least had the grace to appear sheepish. "Sorry. Natural reaction."

She reached for the mark again, and although Sasuke still stiffened at the contact, this time he did not move away. "Then maybe you shouldn't play with snakes," she said wryly. She rolled back his collar and doused the area with various cleansing ointments.

'_So much for the easy part.'_

But the question had been nagging at her mind since he first came to see her, and should anything go wrong she wanted to at least have an answer for his teammates.

Gradually gathering chakra, she asked, "What made you change your mind?"

She never saw his face, but he never moved. For a while she was certain he wouldn't answer, until he gave an indifferent shrug and said solemnly, "I know what it's like to beg for nothing."

And then she could begin.

-----

For days he tried to have the same dream, to see the war that he was not a part of unfold before his eyes. But the fever was on him and most nights he had trouble sleeping at all, drugged into a cloud of confusion by his illness. Sick as he was, Itachi would not decrease their pace to accommodate his needs. More than once he had stumbled on the root of a tree and broken off branches in a resounding cacophony in his effort to stabilize himself. The third time it happened, Itachi had knocked Naruto out cold and carried him for the rest of the day.

He tried to keep track of where they were going, but one tree looked like the next and he had no way to discern their direction in his current state. Before it had become too difficult to move he had tried to mark their passage by scratching the nearby trees, but Itachi caught him after only the second attempt and warned him never to do it again with those blood eyes. When they stopped for a drink later on, he was tempted to push his bounds; but then he remembered the way Sasuke had screamed when his brother looked at him and thought better of it.

Itachi fed him three consistent meals and a bottle of water each day, although the food was hardly nourishing and the water was sometimes muddy. It felt oddly discomfiting to be nursed so gently by a mass murderer, but he was in no condition to protest. Once, waking from a cold sweat in the dead of night, he thought he heard voices whispering farther in the woods and strained to listen, only he made too much noise as he rustled in the blankets and the voices fell silent. He feigned sleep when Itachi returned and the man said nothing in the morning, although his eyes seemed to glimmer as they had when he had caught Naruto and his tree markings. Itachi never seemed to sleep, and Naruto began to fear that he could even sense his thoughts.

When he finally regained his voice and the worst of his fever had died down, he ventured to ask a question of his captor.

"Where are we going?" The words were dulled, his voice thick with disuse, but even so he was glad for the small victory. If he knew their destination, he could mentally plot their relative distance from Konoha and the direction they were travelling in. He had been east of the village enough times in his life to know the surrounding area well, and if that's where they were he might chance to flee when he was stronger. If they were west, however… he had never ventured that way far enough or often enough to be confident that he had at least a passing chance at escaping.

But Itachi only regarded him coolly, his eyes drinking in the light of the moon. "It's useless to try and escape."

So the days wore on, and his fever came back on him again. This time there was no moving him, so Itachi had to grudgingly permit them to stop until Naruto could walk. They rested close by a stream, and that night they had a proper fire and a proper meal, and Naruto had the dream that he was hoping for.

-----

The sounds were absolutely dreadful.

She had been overjoyed to hear that Sasuke finally agreed to Tsunade's treatment, but what she hadn't been expecting to hear were these ghastly noises emitting from within the quarantined room. As she sat outside the door, she heard the notes of Sasuke's voice explode in degrees of pain and clutched her hands together tightly as the ANBU guards watched on. Their porcelain masks frightened her a little; it seemed their expressions never changed, and the fact that people could be as stone in the face of such agony disturbed her more than she could say. It was late afternoon when the process had begun, and now she watched the scarlet rays of light vanishing below a dark line through the tinted glass.

She hated waiting. It would have been different if there had been someone to talk to, someone to share her doubts and her fears, but Tsunade would not permit this news to leak out to the public and Kakashi-sensei was nowhere to be found. So her comfort would have to be in the solidarity of those frozen masks, and her faith in Sasuke's strength and Tsunade's skill.

"You're still here, Sakura?"

She turned at the sound of her name, and Shizune appeared from around the corner, looking somnolent from a long day of work.

"I want to be here when they're done," she explained, getting up to give her seat to the other woman. "And—in case…"

Shizune waved away her gesture as well as her words. "Even if they finish tonight, Sasuke probably won't be awake until tomorrow morning at the earliest. And if anything goes wrong, we'll contact you immediately."

She nodded her head absently, seeing the logic but not liking it. "I know you're right, it's just—he's… he's…" She tried to find the words to explain that Sasuke was a quarter of her team, a quarter of her shinobi life; that he was the only one _here_ while Naruto had been captured and Kakashi-sensei was too distant to reach. The words never came but Shizune understood her anyway.

"They'll all be fine. Go home and get some rest."

Another scream pierced her heart, but she was so tired and hungry that she finally agreed.

"If anything happens—" she began, not daring to finish the thought.

"You'll know within minutes, I promise."

Sakura walked home with a heavy heart.

At the cemetery, Kakashi lost himself in toasts to phantoms, flinging the empty bottles of sake to smash against the night's silence. Drunk on his fears, the moon looked on in reprimand while the wind howled the same tune as one little boy who was unfortunate enough to be cursed.

**TBC**

* * *


	11. Reality Bites

_Disclaimer:_ This is a purely non-profit story for entertainment purposes only. The characters of Naruto belong to their respective owners.

_Author's Notes:_ Well that took a lifetime. I hope this chapter serves to heighten your interest; I think it has a lot of interesting parts that reveal more about the characters and the story in general. Thank you to reviewers and readers! If you leave me constructive criticism, I promise to answer every review individually from now on.

* * *

**Chapter 11**

If she wasn't careful, her weariness was still able to steal up on her and drain the strength from her limbs. In the silent pre-dawn sun she straightens out her spine and blinks twice to clear her vision. Sometime in the darkness hours earlier Sasuke had stopped screaming, her hands had not stopped shaking, and the ANBU had burst in as soon as there was silence. It took all her strength to give out some simple commands and all of Shizune's assistance to get her home.

Her sleep was troubled at best. Every time rest tried to take her, Orochimaru's face would reappear like an insistent child, unwilling to be ignored, tugging her back from dreamlessness with a malignant grin. He kept asking if she felt ill.

_"You're looking so worn down. Must be your age…"_

Then the dream would morph into a battlefield, and she could feel the bile in her throat.

Tsunade blinked herself into awareness. _Too weary_. Yet she couldn't help that now, and appearing tired in front of those who trusted her would be as bad as simply giving up. Shizune had told her about Sakura's misgivings during her visit, but the normality of her gesture was not what gripped the Hokage's mind.

_Three. There should be three visitors, not one. _Her lips tightened into a line. _Yet one is captured, and the other…_

A polite knock sounded on her door.

"Come in."

A mop of shaggy dark hair peered into the room, followed by a green outfit that was not sporting its habitual greeting smile.

"Tsunade-sama."

"Gai. Thank you for coming in so early."

She nodded silently for him to take the chair opposite her, and he did so without question or premise. They stared at each other in silence, him awkward, her carefully formulating what she would say.

Gai broke the mood tentatively. "Tsunade-sama… how is he?"

She glanced up from her hands to look at his face. Although she had left instructions that Sasuke's condition was not to be disclosed without her authorization, she found herself unsurprised by Gai's question. "He's… he was still very weak when I left." _How he would scream to hear me describe him that way._ "But his pulse was steady, and that was the best I could hope for." Gai nodded distractedly, and she mimicked his motion as they returned to silence.

The chair creaked this time as she shifted, clearing her throat. "Under normal circumstances I wouldn't be meddling in the private lives of jounin, but I think it's safe to say that this particular situation… isn't."

Her visitor nodded, but made no other move. She heaved a sigh.

"Gai… the reason I asked you here is because you know Kakashi the best." She saw his shoulders stiffen slightly, but ploughed on anyway. "His students need him right now. He hasn't been at his apartment and no one's seen him around. I know this is difficult, especially for him, but—" _Sasuke could die and he wouldn't be here to witness it_ "—but I'm not the one who can help anymore."

The man opposite her inhaled slowly, measuring his words. "Kakashi… he's—he can be difficult to deal with."

Even through the exhaustion, she had to smile wryly at his comment. "So I noticed."

"I'm not sure how I can be of assistance." He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "After all these years, it would not be chivalrous of me to say what—"

A light shone on her mind, and she finally understood his trepidation. "I think you misunderstand," she said apologetically, cutting him mid-sentence. "I wouldn't ask you to betray his trust. Nothing I say will reach him, but I know you can."

She could still see the scepticism on his face. "I wouldn't rely—"

"I simply want you to find him." She leaned back and folded her hands across her lap, her air nonchalant.

"Find him?" Gai's frown knit his thick eyebrows together in a bushy line.

"Yes, find him." Her mouth tightened again. "Find him, and for the love of god, knock some sense into him."

-----

She was never one for early mornings, but the fact that the sun woke before she did on this particular day was a source of irritation. The first thing she did was to check her answering machine, afraid that she had slept through some message, afraid that there would be a message, and then afraid again when there wasn't.

Sakura combed her hair down hastily, abandoning the brush for the use of her fingers when it seemed a lost cause anyways. Last night she had gone to sleep thinking what she would wear in the morning, but when the time finally came she found that her plans completely deserted her bewildered mind and made her even later than she intended to be. Her pace was brisk as she left her house, carrying the bundle of flowers in her arms. She felt slightly self-conscious as the early-goers cast her sideways glances on their way to work, but when she thought of Sasuke and the noises that haunted her in the night their scrutiny was nothing more than a frivolous pinprick.

She shifted the flowers several times to keep her arms from cramping, walking so fast that her legs began to burn. Sakura burst into the medical centre in record time, pushing the doors aside harder than she'd intended and colliding full force with someone on the other side.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

The flowers broke her impact, but her victim was not so lucky. At first she mistook the person for a child due to their small size, but when she looked again she found a wizened little woman with blank eyes.

_She's blind_, Sakura realized, and for some reason the knowledge sent a chill through her. The woman's veined hands were groping unsuccessfully for the cane she had lost, and Sakura retrieved it to put back in her hands.

"You're not hurt, are you?" she asked softly, helping the woman back to her feet. When she reached to pull the lady up, the ice-cold of her skin left Sakura even more disquieted.

"No, I'm fine." The woman smiled toothlessly, yet something suggested she must have been quite a beauty in her youth. "But you're in an awful rush to see something that has been lost for a long time."

Goosebumps prickled her skin. "Excuse me?"

But she had no time to ponder the woman's words as a commotion drew her attention. Several medic-nin were scrambling to the sound of a rather obnoxious alarm, a blaring horn that seemed to scream _dead, dead, dead_.

Sakura turned back to the woman. "Ma'am, do you know what—" There was no one there. Frowning, she picked up the flowers and decided to follow the rush of people.

It wasn't until she rounded the third corner that her trepidation began to sink in. _Sasuke's room is in the next hallway_. Her heart thumped. The Hokage had placed him in a private area, far away from the main wing, far away from any of the other patients. _He couldn't be. No. Never._

But when she rounded the corner, she saw a gaggle of people inside what was unmistakably Sasuke's room, all conversing hurriedly, all bent over the bed that she had last seen her teammate in, his pale legs showing just above the ankle through the human wall. She didn't remember dropping the flowers. She didn't remember running inside either, yet the next thing she knew she was clawing and screaming at the doctors to make way, to leave Sasuke alone, to do something to save him. She didn't realize she was crying until she felt the hotness of her tears on her cheeks. Someone was pushing her aside saying she was hysterical, and there was someone yelling her name from far away but she never heard any of it. Sakura could see his pallid legs now, but they still wouldn't let her through. She kept fighting and kicking to get past, knocking away the hands that were pulling her back.

"No!" she remembered sobbing, frantic. "Please! Please let me see him, please!"

"She's out of control," a male voice muttered, and she wanted to hack him to death with her bare hands, wanted to claw his eyes out and ask how he would feel if one of his teammates had just died. Then she remembered the woman.

_He hasn't been lost for a long time, you crazy old witch. He just died now, just now, right in front of me._

It was her last coherent thought before everything went black.

-----

He found him where he knew he would, slumped over the grave of Uchiha Obito.

What he wasn't expecting was the litter of broken sake bottles and craters of blasted dirt, a pastime that Kakashi no doubt found amusing while drunk. Frowning, he lightly placed his hands on the other man's shoulders and tried to shake the unconscious Copy Ninja into wakefulness.

"Kakashi."

He shook a little harder.

"Kakashi."

One bleary eye opened to stare at him, red-rimmed and accusing. _But the other one opens first_, Gai thought. _And the other one is redder._ He slapped him hard across the face. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Kakashi must have been surprised by his rage. Gai was seldom angry, and on those rare occasions that ill temper overtook him the reasons were more than dire.

"Gai, what…?" Kakashi blinked, and it seemed to Gai that some of the redness disappeared.

To his irritation, Kakashi never finished his sentence. "Sasuke is what." He let the words sink in, throwing away a shard of glass so he could sit down beside his rival. "He underwent the procedure last night."

Unexpectedly, Kakashi's revelation showed on his face. His voice was hoarse. "How—how long ago did they finish?"

Gai avoided the question, partly to spare Kakashi, partly because he wasn't certain himself. "I'm told Sakura's really worried."

"She has a right to be." He sat up straight, looking at the carnage around him. "Some things never change, do they?"

He winced. "Kakashi…"

"He's not dead yet, is he?" Gai noted how Kakashi refused to say the boy's name. "Did I miss another funeral?"

His fury struck again, a stinging blow on the other cheek. "Things stopped being about you as soon as you took those three as your students. What are you doing here if not abandoning them? If you don't want to miss anything else, I highly suggest laying off the self-pity and the alcohol."

Gai stood to leave, his voice laced with scorn. His voice was softer as he spoke but no less harsh.

"And if Sasuke were dead, I wouldn't have come to tell you. You wouldn't have deserved that much."

Kakashi was left to ponder the frigidness of his friend's retreating back, green upon green of life and death.

-----

He wakes from a world of chaos into a world of red.

Naruto's nightly starts have become almost routine by now, but tonight Itachi eyes him suspiciously (or as close to suspiciously as Itachi got; he was not one for showing emotion) as he blinks himself awake, subtly trying to shy away from the cruelty in those eyes. He had seen the war again, been the ghost of himself that became a shadow to the Yondaime and the younger version of his sensei. This dream had ended in a flash of white as the Yondaime vanished, and he was able to glimpse his infantile self as the seal seemed to burn itself onto his stomach.

Itachi's voice cut across his thoughts, sharper than any kunai.

"What do you dream of?"

"Nothing." The word comes before he realizes he's answered, and prays Itachi will be satisfied.

"It is unwise to lie to me."

He wanted to say, "I'm not lying", but the words are struck and gone as soon as he thinks them. Itachi seems to take his silence as affirmation.

"What do you dream of?" he repeats.

"Nothing." He smiles thinly. "Nothing but thunder."

Itachi's eyes burn and he plunges them back into Naruto's troubled dream, fast-forwarding the events, filtering the truth from his vain attempts at deception. He's never gone through that fast before, and the tension on his body starts to make itself known. His hands are stinging worse than any wound, but there is no blood. He wants to stop this ride, knows that if he goes on any longer his head will surely explode… but then they are back in darkness again, on the damp ground in the middle of a forest.

Itachi lets out a harsh laugh. Naruto equates it to the sound of grinding metal.

"Now I understand. It's no wonder Konoha has become so weak," the Uchiha drawls, eyes fixated on Naruto's hunched body. "Foolish boy."

Somehow Itachi's words are more than he can bear. His body is still aching miserably, but he has enough strength to kick up a cloud of dust in Itachi's beautiful cruel face, Itachi's spotless cloak, Itachi's unbroken skin. The movement sends tendrils of pain anew up his spine, and he folds in further on himself.

Then Itachi's hand his on his neck, and his skin burns.

"Look at you, so protected that you've become pathetic and blind."

The throbbing is in his temple and he wants to scream, but he's not willing to give Itachi that satisfaction. Itachi laughs again, his words full of poison.

"All these dreams and you still haven't figured it out. Didn't they tell you that the Yondaime is your father?"

There are more words after that, more threats and insults that mean no more than wind. Itachi's voice drops into silence as the throbbing moves from Naturo's head to his ears, and he's sorely tempted to cut them off because for some reason they keep mishearing some very important information.

**TBC**

* * *


	12. Unanswered Questions

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Naruto.

_Author's Notes:_ Updates will definitely be sporadic depending on my workload at school and other factors. I apologize profusely at the amount of time this took. I'm going to change my mind about limiting the use of characters and try to have guest appearance every chapter from a different character each time to liven things up a bit. Also, I realized that there was some of the plot that I didn't tie up too well with my original plan, so the story will be longer than anticipated to fulfill those obligations. Thank you so, so much to reviewers who have been incredibly supportive and have stuck by the story despite the slow updates.

_Recap:_ Sasuke has undergone the procedure to rid him of the Curse Seal and Sakura goes to visit him at the hospital. When she gets there, she sees that doctors are rushing to save Sasuke's life. Meanwhile, Gai has gone to knock some sense back into Kakashi, who is at Obito's grave and deeply disturbed by the illusion he fought. Elsewhere, Itachi has inquired as to the content of Naruto's dreams, and upon finding out, tells him vehemently that the Yondaime was his father. The story continues…

* * *

**Chapter 12**

He paces the down the same path as he has a hundred times before, the same path through the same maze to the same destination. The corridors are dark; they are always dark. Something about darkness is soothing to his master and his wasting body, but he has never particularly enjoyed it. Footsteps preceded bodies down this rough brick, but his are in time with the stone, swallowed up in silence. There is also something singularly oppressive to him about the way the ceiling felt as if it was constantly falling, as if only by some sheer will did it remain where it was. He could never love this place, but he would be loathe to leave it.

He reaches the end of his journey and raptly knocks on the thick wooden door three times.

"Enter."

Today the smell of rotting flesh reaches him earlier than before, and he knows it will take more time than usual to perform his daily routine. The badness is spreading over his master's skin and he uncorks a bottle of especially potent ointment to counteract its effects. When he applies it his master lets out a hiss that he ignores. There is a kind of lethargy about the way he is allowed to handle his master's body, a disregard of his presence that he is unaccustomed to. He was pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he finished the last of the bandages when a sickly yellow hand entwined itself in his silver hair and another hiss escapes from the body he has just treated.

Kabuto looks up, surprised by this unprecedented behaviour. "Orochimaru-sama?"

The golden eyes narrow into deadly slits and sound rattles menacingly out of the melting face.

"I no longer feel his presence."

-----

She wakes up to a throbbing headache and a pair of concerned dark eyes, but when she tries to sit up the pain makes her so dizzy that she stops halfway through the attempt.

"Where…?"

"Shh, just relax." A pair of gentle hands brushes the hair out of her eyes, and her vision focuses enough to reveal Shizune's face. The older woman is smiling. "You're one heck of a fighter."

She was about to ask what the other woman meant, but then her conscious memories came back to her and she was frantic again.

"Oh god, Sasuke! Where is he? Is he-he—" Her voice rose hysterically, and she was startled when two shinobi rushed in through the door. Shizune laid a placating hand on her arm and turned to the new visitors calmly.

"It's alright, just a misunderstanding." She gave them acknowledging nods before they departed. Turning back to Sakura, she cut off the young kuniochi before she could speak. "Don't make any assumptions, Sakura, or I'd hate to have to sedate you again."

At the last few words, her anger rose. "Sedate me? **Sedate** me?! Am I insane now because I want to see my teammate? What's going on, anyway? I thought he was recovering, but now—"

Shizune sighed. "Sakura…"

"—look what's happened! I can't believe—"

"… it wasn't Sasuke."

"—you could let this—what?" She paused to catch her breath, feeling all the blood rush to her head. "What are you talking about?"

"The boy you saw, the one that went into cardiac arrest – that wasn't Sasuke."

Sakura felt all the blood drain out of her body as relief swept over her. "But… that was his room, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was." The hint of a smile appeared on the other woman's lips. "But he was recovering so well that we only just moved him earlier in the morning. He'll be able to rest easier in a more comfortable room."

"But I thought that was a private room that wasn't used anymore?"

Shizune cleared her throat. "As to that, you'll have to ask Hokage-sama yourself." Silence settled over them as Shizune poured a glass of water and handed it to the girl beside her. "If you want to see Sasuke, he should be up and about by now. I'll take you."

Sakura downed the entire glass and gave a grateful and sheepish smile.

-----

He didn't think any more could be taken from him, but since that day Naruto finds that he is afraid even to dream. Itachi's eyes are piercing and he feels as if every memory he has ever had will be revealed to this man. His injuries have healed enough for Itachi to deem him fit for travel, which limited his eye contact with the Uchiha to the bare minimum. Even so, Naruto is uncomfortable simply walking in front of him, feeling the venomous gaze burn what he is certain will become permanent scars onto the back of his neck. But his overwhelming need to know the truth was sometimes enough to drive away these fears, and so he resolutely stops mid-stride and turns to face his captor.

"How do you know he was my father?"

He had asked the question several times before, but Itachi never bothered to give him a response. He knows Itachi's distaste for delays when travelling, he knows this and knows that behaving like this isn't going to get him answers any faster but he does it anyway. There is nothing but contempt in the eyes that meet his; he wants to flinch but keeps his gaze level, willing some sort of reply.

"It's best for you to keep your voice down."

If he had been expecting a rebuke of some sort, some scorn or plain silence, this takes him by surprise.

"Keep my voice down?" And instinctively, he does the opposite. "You call than an answer?" He moves in Itachi's direction but is quickly deterred by senbon needles that just miss his nose. Intuitively he dodges backwards, but the sudden movement has caused him to reopen his abdominal wound and the severe pain makes him crumple to one knee, panting. When he looks up Itachi is still as stone. The trees around them rustle as a group of five shinobi appear from the thickets.

"Well well, look what we have here." The tallest of the bunch is a burly man dressed in torn clothing, hiding his identity behind a shabby mask. Naruto suddenly understands why Itachi had demanded his silence. There was nothing to identify them as shinobi of a particular village, but they seemed cruel enough; Naruto's gut tells him that these rogues aren't in it only for the money. He didn't think that it was anything Itachi couldn't handle, but such fights would be deemed useless by the Uchiha and he knew that Itachi detested wasting his precious time on what he would call vermin.

The ringleader had been looking at him, but the man's eyes shift and focus on Itachi's statuesque demeanour and his lips curled into a snarl. He eyes him coldly and settles his gaze on Itachi's ring. "That thing on your finger will fetch a pretty penny." He lets out a bark of laughter. "And ruining your pretty face would make my day."

Simply hearing it makes him feel sick to his stomach. He knows what will come, he knows that within minutes they will all be corpses and a wave of sickness washes over him as Itachi's outline flickers and disappears the way he has seen it happen countless times before. His silent warning is too late, too late as a muffled groan escapes the first one struck and much later the delayed thud of the body hits the ground. In a daze he is unsurprised when his hand comes away soaked in blood and the world starts spinning. He no longer hears movement, but without warning Itachi launches an attack somewhere into the trees that collides with something and vanishes. What emerges is the blue man, laughing heartily and holding his sword above his head in a truce.

"Take it easy, Itachi. It's just me." Their eyes meet in silent greeting and then turn simultaneously towards him, creating a bloody mess on the grass and dirt.

By now Naruto's vision had dimmed to a blurred line, but he could still see two pairs of feet approach him and was conscious enough to hear Itachi's cold voice.

"I'll take care of the bodies. You deal with him."

His mind doesn't quite understand what 'deal with him' means, but when he feels the pressure of the huge blade placed on his shoulder and its cold metal sucking out his chakra, the picture suddenly becomes crystal clear.

'_Whether he's my father or not, at this rate I'll get to ask him myself.'_

-----

She was facing the door. The door was facing her. Neither of them moved.

"UGGGGHHH!!!!" Inner Sakura let out a shriek of frustration at her own cowardliness. "Why won't you just go in?!"

Her hand had been poised above the doorknob for a while until her arm had grown numb and she had withdrawn it. Now it hovered at the same spot again with the exact same hesitancy. She had been standing there for the past hour since Shizune had left, debating whether or not she dared to go in.

Her decision was finally made for her as the door opened inwards of its own doing, and there in the doorway stood her teammate.

"S-Sasuke."

He looked surprised to see her, probably because she was right outside his door. Their eyes had met for a brief moment and she thought the red in his was somehow different, that the pattern had changed somewhat, but the Sharingan had quickly faded away to reveal only Sasuke's stubbornly dark eyes.

"Sakura." He sounded a little awkward, something she was unaccustomed to from him.

Seeing him healthy was enough to ease her fears. "You're… you're all right." She smiled. "I was afraid that something might go wrong…"

"I'm fine." He smiles at her then, not the playful smirk tinged with arrogance that was always on display, but a genuine—she would even say humble—kind of smile. "Thank you." He claps her on the shoulder and gently walks by her.

"Sasuke, wait!" He turns to face her at her call, the posture and clothes fitting the same way but also different. She can't pinpoint or understand this peacefulness from him, but she knows that 'thank you' was for more than the house call. "Where-where are you going?"

He gives her a pointed look, the smirk making its way back onto his face. "Don't you trust me?"

Sakura gives him her most serious expression. "You thanked me," she deadpans.

His lips widen into the Sasuke of old, the one that constantly made her worry but made her feel safest of all.

"Don't worry," he says quietly. "I'm not going anywhere."

-----

Kakashi has not felt this kind of shame since his early Academy days, and walking into the Hokage's office with a burdened conscience made him feel like a chastened schoolboy all over again, a feat he had not thought possible. Her eyes regarded him coolly as he entered and sat down in silence.

"I apologize for my irresponsible actions," he began. "What I did was a direct neglect of—"

"I didn't call you here to criticize you," she interrupted. "What I would like to discuss is Sasuke's future, now that he is rid of the curse seal."

Hearing his student's name sobered him up completely. "How is he?"

Slowly, the Hokage was dropping away to reveal only Tsunade. "He's fine now, although his recovery could take some time. I doubt he realizes how extensive the curse seal was and how much damage removing it has done."

Kakashi simply nods, taking in what he had missed.

"You'll need to watch him personally all over again. I'm afraid no one else can help him as much as you." Her eyes soften momentarily. "But I have one other concern." The Hokage returns and Tsunade has been pushed into hiding.

"Please continue."

"Orochimaru may have figured out by now that the seal is broken. Of course it was a possibility from the start, but what concerns me now is how we're going to deal with this if Orochimaru decides to pursue him."

"I don't think he will yet," Kakashi says slowly, measuring his words. "He won't need a new vessel for some time, and Sasuke's current condition isn't what he's hoping for."

"But should he decide that now is the best time to take Sasuke, while he's still weak?"

Kakashi shakes his head. "His pride wouldn't allow it. All along he's been certain that Sasuke would go to him on his own; he won't take him by force."

Her gaze is neutral as she asks her next question, but he can tell that Tsunade is recording his every movement and word to memory. "And do you think Sasuke will go to him?"

"I think…" He sighs deeply. "I think at this point, he's more concerned about Naruto."

"You don't trust him?" Tsunade asks, somewhat sadly.

"I want to."

-----

He comes upon him in a clearing practicing a new taijutsu combination. As he watches the pale body dart from the trunk of one tree to the next, he secretly has to admire how much Sasuke has grown. His conversation with Tsunade still resounds in his head, but he pushes those thoughts aside as he walks to greet his student.

"You've gotten a lot better, Sasuke."

The dark-haired teen looks up at his voice and stops his movements. He slowly approaches Kakashi and stands a foot or so away from him, proud and awkward at the same time.

"How are you feeling?" Kakashi asks gently.

"Fine." The reply is a staccato of air pushed through closed lips. Sasuke never looks in his eyes, only looks down at his own feet while the silence continues between them. "Kakashi-sensei, I'm—"

Kakashi doesn't think he wants to hear it and he doesn't think Sasuke wants to say it, so he lays a hand on his head to silence him. "I know."

And Sasuke thinks he does, believes he does, doesn't take offence at this overly childish way of treating him.

"Just rest, we'll get him back."

He believes Kakashi and so he nods, just nods, never before realizing how comforting a hand could be.

-----

When Neji arrives at his daily training spot early the next morning, he is surprised to find someone there waiting for him. Moreover, he is surprised to find Uchiha Sasuke waiting there for him.

"Sasuke. Is there anything I can do for you?"

The other prodigy moves from the tree that he had been leaning against and uncrosses his arms. He takes a deep breath before talking, "I need to ask you a favour. I also need to ask you to keep it between us."

Neji can sense that this could only mean trouble, 'keeping it between us', but Sasuke has never asked him (or anyone, really) for anything before and he's curious as to what this fabled request could be.

"If it's within my ability to grant, sure. What is it you need?"

Having heard his promise, Sasuke's tone turns serious. "I need your Byakugan."

"What?" Neji is unsure he has heard right. "What do you need the Byakugan for?" Sasuke's momentary silence somehow makes him very apprehensive.

Because the problem is that Sasuke believes, but he doesn't believe enough.

"I need you to use the Byakugan… to test if you can see through my Mangekyo Sharingan."

**TBC**

* * *


	13. That's What Friends Are For

**Twisted Desires**

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Naruto.

_Author's Notes:_ Perhaps not of the calibre I would wish it to be, but I knew that if I didn't force myself to write this it would never be done. Right at the end of the month, but at least I didn't break my promise. Kyoui-chan, I hope my tense is better this time around. A friend of mine has commented before how I mixed up tenses a lot (it was amusing because she was pretty irritated), but I guess it's so ingrained in my writing that I don't really notice it myself.

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!

* * *

Kakashi didn't like to admit to his mistakes, least of all to Gai, but his overdeveloped conscience wouldn't let him rest until he had at least given the man his thanks for bringing him back to earth. Since gifts weren't really his thing, Kakashi decided it would be best (easiest) to simply pay Gai a housecall and stay over for afternoon tea – and afterwards maybe he would even agree to another of Gai's crazy challenges to renew their rivalry. What he didn't particularly look forward to was the predictable level of noise his visit is sure to create. 

He rounded the corner onto Gai's street and was surprised to find Neji gently closing the front gate to Gai's house, looking more troubled than usual. At present the Hyuuga looks up, and gives a cordial tilt of the head as greeting.

"Kakashi-san."

"Ah, Neji." Kakashi's eye smiled. "I assume Gai-sensei is home?"

The young man nodded his head and Kakashi gave him another polite smile before moving to enter the house when Neji's voice stopped him.

"Wait a moment, Kakashi-san."

Puzzled, Kakashi turned to face the Hyuuga prodigy that he knew so little. "Is something the matter, Neji?"

"No, not quite." Even in agitation, Neji's speech was succinct and eloquent. "I'm uncertain as to whether this is of any relevance, but I believe it best that you should know."

"Oh?" A queasy feeling began to grow in the pit of Kakashi's stomach. While Neji may have said that it could be of no importance, Kakashi was smart enough to realize that the boy would not have brought up the issue at all had he not believed that it could be considerably vital.

"Several days ago, Sasuke requested me to test my Byakugan against his Sharingan."

"And you're worried about his motives?" Kakashi asked, feeling the worry subside just a little bit. If he knew Sasuke, the kid was probably going stir-crazy and wanted to test himself against someone he deemed worthy.

"No, sir, it wasn't just that. He said it was the Mangekyo Sharingan."

Kakashi's heart drops faster than a stone in a pond.

"Kakashi-san, wait!" Neji called as the Copy-nin darted off, his cry catching the attention of his sensei.

"What's all the ruckus?" Gai asked as he opened the door, catching sight of a cloud of dust beside his student.

"Sensei..." Neji's voice is heavy. "There's something I should have told you."

By this time, Kakashi was halfway through town on a crash course with Sasuke's place with nothing but the wind rushing angrily through his ears.

His first thought had been, Fuck he's leaving.

His second was, God I hope I'm in time.

His third, belated, reasoning: If Sasuke has the Mangekyo, that means Naruto's dead.

-----

His fingers were deft as he prepared his instruments, slipping a series of multi-coloured vials into a holder that he wore hidden beneath his shirt. It was difficult to contain his excitement in the face of such favourable circumstances. Uchiha Sasuke was causing grief for Orochimaru-sama, which meant that his master would less likely be furious should the boy not reach the hideout. He had had a distinct dislike for the new container since the first time he had set eyes on him, a feeling that had increased over time. He would not deny that he secretly wished the boy's demise, for Orochimaru-sama's good. The fact that he was being sent out to investigate the situation was another point in his favour. Who was to say nothing bad would happen on the return trip?

The sound of the door creaking was the only announcement he got from his visitor.

"Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto turned to face the sallow-skinned man.

"Are you prepared to leave?" His voice rasped.

"Yes, sir."

"Remember: I do not want you interfering unless it appears that he will lose his life."

"As you say, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru dismissed him with a nod of his head, and Kabuto thinks this will be the most fun he has in a while.

-----

"Hmm?"

Something in the breeze made him look back the way he came, but Sasuke is certain that no one is following him as of yet. He had told no one of his intentions and had left in the most inconspicuous way he knew how. He felt a slight pang of guilt at having lied to Sakura again, but he was certain that she would understand his intentions of bringing Naruto back safely and as quickly as possible.

The bag slung over his back is packed with weapons and food, but Sasuke somehow felt unprepared. He had checked and double-checked everything, had thought up contingency plans, but his power was a little too new for him to have complete faith in its effectiveness. Neji had been extremely helpful in aiding him to perfect his illusions with the Mangekyo, smoothing out the chakra to resemble a real environment, but there were still too many probabilities for his liking. The effects of two Mangekyos colliding was not recorded in detail, so Sasuke had no way of knowing what the consequences could be.

But if he could catch Itachi off-guard and get Naruto away for the time being, the rest he would figure out later. All he hoped was that he was good enough to make it work.

-----

She had just finished making a report and was and heading out to enjoy the rest of the day when Gai and Neji practically stomped by her, both with grim looks on their faces.

'_They're heading toward the Hokage's office,_' she thought immediately, and something about the seriousness of Gai's expression made her nervous. Her instincts immediately told her to follow.

Sakura did a U-turn and hurried to catch up to them, but even so the door was already closed and locked by the time she reached it. Checking to see that no one else was passing by, she carefully pressed her ear to the door. While the Hokage's door had been sealed with a noise elimination jutsu, Sakura had long ago figured out how to disable its effects by creating a counter of her own. Two quick hand seals were all it took, and then sound floated to her ears through the wood.

"Neji, I can understand why you wouldn't want to breach this matter, but you knew how precarious the situation was!" The Godaime sounded furious, which made Sakura press even harder into the door. Neji had muttered a reply that she couldn't hear.

"What you did was inexcusable. I'm confining you to house arrest until further notice."

'_House arrest? But what did he do? Neji's always been one of the top shinobi..._'

"There's one other thing, Tsunade-sama." Gai's voice cut in for the first time. "Kakashi's already pursuing him."

"Oh, for the love of--"

Sakura stopped listening. She didn't know what Neji had done, nor did she care. All she knew at this point was that the only reasonable explanation for Kakashi-sensei leaving without notice was if it concerned Sasuke. If Sasuke had lied to her and left the village, she would hunt him down and present his balls on a silver platter for Tsunade-sama herself.

-----

When he opened his eyes and there was no light at the end of a long tunnel nor the red tinge of many burning flames, he is once again surprised to find himself still alive.

Itachi, omnipotent, was forever watching him. It took Naruto a while to realize that not only was he alive, he was feeling the best he has since the night that things began, the last night he and Itachi had spent together. The thought of intimacy with the stoic figure in front of him sent a jab of pain through his chest that he didn't want to acknowledge. It was when he tried to push this thought away that he registered the non-presence of another missing-nin, whose heavy sword he believed would end his existence.

He has learnt better than to try to sit up so soon after waking. "What happened?" he asked from his place on the ground, bringing up his arm to shield his eyes from the glare of sunlight. When Itachi didn't reply, he repeated his question.

"I assumed you would have learnt silence since the last incident." Itachi's voice is acid. "Kisame drained out enough of your chakra so that the Kyuubi had to react to save you. He didn't take out enough for a complete recovery, but at least now you will be able to walk instead of slowing us down."

"Can't afford to have me die, huh?" Naruto laughed bitterly. "How ironic."

Itachi turned a cool gaze his way. "Do not think for a second that I would hesitate to kill you."

Naruto laughed again. "If that were true, I think I would have died three times over by now."

Cold steel is pressed against his throat as Itachi has transposed himself to a relaxed crouch over Naruto's body, wrenching Naruto's arm up and pinning it painfully above his head. It was a trial for the blond to keep his mind fixed on his anger and not the tingling sensation that is worming its way between his legs.

"Why me?" Naruto whispered, daring to look Itachi square in the face. "Why would any father pick is own son to suffer?"

A long silence passed as they glared at one another. Finally Itachi released Naruto's arm, using the free hand to deliver a backhanded slap across the face so hard that Naruto spat blood.

As Naruto sat up, ready to retort, Itachi interrupted him.

"That's why." He gestured to the pool of red slowing being absorbed into the dirt and grass. "Blood seals are the strongest kind."

**TBC**

* * *

**  
**

_AN:_ My explanation for Naruto as the choice for the Kyuubi container. Plausible? Maybe.


	14. For What It's Worth

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Naruto, and am gaining nothing but personal satisfaction from the writing of this story.

_Author's Notes:_ There are no more excuses, really. It's just life that can speed up or hinder certain things. Fanfiction is one of those things it tends to hinder. Hopefully the wait was worth it.

* * *

There is a manic desperation that seems to cling to their travels; their walking is ostensibly ceaseless until Naruto feels as if his body is being torn apart, but Itachi has honed his senses well enough to stop him before he faints. On this particular day, they have only travelled a few hours from their resting ground the previous night, so it comes as a complete surprise to Naruto when Itachi suddenly halts their progress. 

"Stop." His voice is commanding, though for no apparent reason. The trees have gotten thinner the farther they walk, but through his haze of exhaustion he can make out nothing in the semi-open distance. Itachi, however, is waiting expectantly, and he is reminded all too vividly of the would-be robbers from before. The memory makes him feel somewhat sick. It reminds him, also, that there is no part of the hypnotic man before him that is not covered in blood.

The merest tilt of Itachi's head to the left is the only hint Naruto has before the blue-skinned man materializes before them. He is just wondering how he did not sense the man coming when the image before them flickers. Comprehension dawns as he realizes they are speaking not speaking to flesh and blood, but an illusion.

"Itachi-san." He gives a toothy grin. Itachi gives a stoic nod in reply.

"Are the preparations almost complete, Kisame?" Itachi asks dryly, and the man's smile fades.

"Very close. It's an appropriate time to start things on your end."

Itachi nods again. "Yes. It is time."

"Things are on schedule?"

"There are no new developments."

Kisame nods, and then severs the connection. Naruto, who has been watching and listening with intense concentration, pretends to turn away as Itachi glances back toward him although he expects it to fool no one. Itachi advances toward him with the same blankness of expression he has not yet learned how to read, and he wonders, not for the first time, how he was ever enraptured by this man's charm.

"Today marks the beginning of your death."

Itachi's eyes are deader than stone as his hands begin to form a seal and his words blur together into an indecipherable stream. Naruto instinctively reacts to protect himself, his own hands forming seals, but it is too late as a flash of light blinds him and sends the most excruciating pain down to his stomach, before leading him once again to darkness.

-----

_How could you be so stupid?_

His body is moving but his mind is hardly on where he's headed. Kakashi is still cursing himself, cursing the fact that he trusted Sasuke – again – and that Sasuke betrayed them, again. He hopes, deep down, that there is some altruistic motive to the boy's actions, hopes that perhaps he is trying to save Naruto's life.

_But it's hard to say, isn't it, when two valuable things are in one place?_

He breaks the bark on the next tree branch he lands on, twisting his heel to create friction and still his movement. He bends down and scrapes his thumb roughly on the broken bark. In one fluid movement, he pulls a small scroll from the front pocket of his vest, unrolls it and swipes the welling blood onto the parchment.

Within an instant, Pakkun appears before him in a puff of smoke.

"Kakashi," he says in his deep voice, gazing at him with something akin to sympathy.

"I know, Pakkun, I know." He sighs. "Can you find Sasuke?"

"I'll let you know if anything turns up."

Kakashi watches his small form bound through the trees before resuming his own search.

-----

She watches Gai lead a guilt-ridden Neji out of her office, surprised and overwhelmed by this new piece of information.

_Even Neji…_

It seemed to her that shinobi of the new generation were much too lax about informing superiors of suspicious behaviour.

_But I guess they're loyal to each other, and that's something we can build on._

She reaches for paper to write out commands, but hesitates. News of Neji's visit would, inevitably, leak within the hour (as these things were wont to do), and she would have one very angry disciple if she passed over Sakura for an away mission concerning Sasuke again. Although it wasn't her duty to grant all wishes, and although it wasn't exactly the wisest thing to do, she thought Sakura would be smart and disciplined enough to appreciate the assignment in addition to performing it well.

She puts down the pen and decides to find Sakura herself. Shizune looks up as she approaches, giving her a perplexed look. "Tsunade-sama, I thought you were going to be busy all day with paperwork."

"Something has come up," she replies distractedly, glancing down the halls. "Where's that apprentice of mine?"

"Sakura-chan?" Shizune looks even more confused. "But… I just saw her leaving. She looked really upset." She hesitates, studying Tsunade's face. "I thought she had just come from your office."

Realization hits as violently as a storm. _I thought she had just come from your office…_

"Goddamnit! What the hell has he been teaching these kids?!"

-----

The boy's travelling rather fast, Kabuto thinks a little disdainfully, watching Sasuke's head of dark hair weave in and out of the trees. He is keeping watch stealthily from the branches, but the erratic and seemingly directionless movement of his quarry are proving irritating. He is debating just stopping the boy and knocking him around a bit before taking him back to Orochimaru when Sasuke suddenly stops. Kabuto just manages to stop his own movement in time, looking ahead to see what the hold-up was.

It is a complete shock to him to find Uchiha Itachi standing barely a few feet in front of his younger brother.

"I've finally found you, Itachi," the boy's voice rings out, surprisingly steady despite his tense posture. The man in the cloak turns slowly on the spot, and it is in that moment that he notices a body slumped behind Itachi. The bright orange outfit and unruly golden hair leave no doubt as to whom the captive is.

_But why would Itachi be interested in Naruto?_

The question is pushed to the back of his mind, however, as Itachi's voice floats over the space in reply.

"You are not wanted here, Sasuke."

Sasuke scoffs. "You were the one who told me to find you, once I was ready." He lets the echo of those words die away. "Well, here I am."

"You are many years away from being ready."

Itachi turns away, but a shuriken whizzes by his cheek to thud into the nearest tree. "I think I can decide for myself when I'm ready." Sasuke's voice has taken on a cocky tone. "But before I take care of you, I want you to give Naruto to me."

Kabuto can just barely see the elder Uchiha's face, but there is no mistaking the deadly glint that has just entered his eyes. "Do not presume to give orders you cannot reinforce."

"I never thought you'd need a hostage to fight me, Itachi." The boy's attempt to goad his brother's anger is obvious, and Kabuto sneers at his immaturity. The boy should know better than anyone that this was a man not to be manipulated. "He'll die without treatment. I wonder what your friends would have to say to that."

Itachi smirks at Sasuke's jibe, not letting it anger him. "You needn't be so concerned. However, it would be a shame to let him die when I can reclaim him so easily. Wouldn't you agree…"

And Itachi's eyes are now sweeping around to where he is hiding, and Kabuto's heart stops, just for a moment, sure that he has been caught, knowing that this means trouble—

"…Hatake Kakashi?"

He lets out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and his heart beats again.

-----

Kakashi sighs ruefully, feeling sheepish, before walking out into the open.

"He's yours," Itachi says calmly, turning slightly to indicate Naruto's still body.

Kakashi glances over at Sasuke, who has remained immobile. "Sasuke—"

"Kakashi-sensei, please get him back as quickly as possible." Sasuke's eyes never leave Itachi as he talks to his teacher.

The calmness of his student's voice, as well as the polite wording, throws him off for a moment. "I'm not leaving you to do this, Sasuke."

The young Uchiha smiles wryly. "It's a trade," he says softly, so that only Kakashi can hear.

When Kakashi does not move, still unconvinced, Sasuke turns serious. "I'll win." He states it confidently, as if trying to reassure himself as well. "And even if I don't, he won't kill me yet."

"I'm glad that comforts somebody," Kakashi remarks dryly, glancing toward Itachi and the prone figure behind it. There is a dark stain visible on Naruto's orange jacket that makes him worry. Sasuke's voice snaps him out of his thoughts.

"I'm asking you as a personal favour." And he knows how much those words must have cost his student, sees the determination that resides in the eyes that will not meet his.

And he knows there is only one thing he can do.

Kakashi moves toward Naruto, keeping an eye on Itachi as he does so. He gently lifts the unconscious figure into his arms, noting that Naruto's breathing is weak, but present. He takes another look back at Sasuke, his mind divided.

"Don't feel so guilty, Kakashi-san," Itachi says without turning. "I assure you, your presence would not have affected the outcome of this battle."

He leaves with that last, taunting sentence replaying over and over in his mind.

-----

Kabuto watches the Copy-Nin depart with the body of Uzumaki Naruto, surprised at this turn of events. While his curiosity is peaked, he doubts that he will see anything interesting by following Kakashi; besides, his orders are to follow Sasuke, and while he is confident in his abilities to find the boy should he happen to lose the trail, it would be a nuisance to go to all the trouble. And from the way the Uchiha brothers are eyeing each other, he'd bet his money that the action would be better here.

Almost at the same time the brothers begin to perform seals, staring straight into each other's eyes. The clouds of fire emitting from their mouths explode on collision, singeing the air with unnatural heat. Itachi matches Sasuke's kunai with senbon needles, deflecting them into the ground. Sasuke starts to ascend a tree trunk, and Itachi does the same dispassionately, in perfect mimicry. The younger Uchiha is running along the tree trunks, parallel to the ground, gathering a mass of raucous blue chakra in his right hand. This time Itachi does not duplicate the attack, but continues to circle his brother in the same manner. With a cry Sasuke launches himself into the air, brings his fist forth to strike—but Itachi has quelled the attack in the palms of his hands.

"I tire of your useless, powerless efforts," Itachi says coldly, activating his Sharingan; but this for some reason makes Sasuke laugh.

"And I'm tired of your old tricks, always using Tsukiyomi to make me remember." From the vague look of revelation on Itachi's face, Kabuto surmises that this is a name Sasuke isn't supposed to know. "I remember, Itachi. I remember perfectly."

"So you've learned a few things in the time I've given you," Itachi spits out. "It isn't enough." The tadpoles in the pools of Itachi's eyes have begun to swim faster, blurring their shape into one black wheel.

"I beg to differ." And Sasuke's tomoe have sprouted a third brother, spinning as wildly as Itachi's, and the connection of their gazes has made the world stand still.

Kabuto watches, bewildered, as the two stand immobile with their hands caught in a vice grip, repelling each other. He is unable to see the internal battle of two Sharingan, advanced to their ultimate form. He doesn't see Itachi's look of shock at Sasuke's Mangekyo, the clash of illusions. Kabuto, like all those without the Sharingan, does not understand its devastating effects. Itachi tricks his brother with crows while Sasuke haunts with an army of the dead, hoping that the sight of the family members he has slain will make Itachi lose focus. He is still inexperienced, however, in sustaining and directing such prolonged assaults. At the first sign of weakness—a slight drop in chakra—Itachi lunges in for the finish, poisoning Sasuke's vulnerable mind with the suggestion of failure and death.

Kabuto is able to observe Sasuke's scream of pain as the motionless figures become animated once more. Sasuke crumples to the ground, unconscious, as Itachi swoops over him like a bird of prey. He cannot know the cause of that pain, and cannot know that for this he is lucky: for Itachi has deluded Sasuke into thinking that his insides have crawled out of his stomach and are attempting to strangle him.

-----

Seething, Sakura punches over a few trees as she darts through their branches. She would love nothing more than to find Sasuke and punch him senseless: one punch for every lie, every betrayal, every selfish act… even so, she would never kill him. What kind of hatred would it take, she wondered, to want to kill family?

In this depressed state of mind, she barely notices the small speck travelling toward her until it has grown into a considerable, recognizable form.

"Kakashi-sensei!" she gasps, as she sees the figure in his arms. "Is he—?"

"He's still alive," Kakashi cuts in, panting slightly as he deposits Naruto onto the branch. "Where's the rest of your team?"

Sakura's ears turn the same shade as her hair. "I—I came as soon as I heard… I never asked for…"

"It's not like you to break the rules, Sakura," her sensei says, but not unkindly. "That was a very foolish thing to do." Her expression is downcast immediately. "But I'm glad you're here," Kakashi finishes, managing to crinkle his eyes in a smile. "I need you to tend to whatever you can, then take him back to Konoha immediately."

"What about you, Kakashi-sensei?" she asks as she props Naruto onto her knee.

"I'm going to go back, see if I can't help Sasuke—"

"You saw Sasuke?!" her voice is a shriek, almost dropping her teammate's head.

"Yes. He's fighting Itachi, I have to—"

"I want to go with you! I can help!"

"You would be helping the most by taking Naruto back."

"But I can back you up—"

"Who would take care of Naruto?"

She bit her lip. "I can summon—"

"Use your logic, Sakura!" It is the first time Kakashi-sensei has ever raised his voice toward her and her alone. "Your mind is your strength. I know you want to get him back… so do I. But you're no match for Itachi, and if something were to happen to Naruto, wouldn't we be losing more than we gain?" He wants to make her see this fact, that hers is a task equally important, that time is what matters.

He sees the resolve crumbling behind her eyes. "Get him back as fast as you can, tell the Hokage what's happened, and I'll contact you as soon as I return. Okay?"

She nods, gathering Naruto in her arms. They depart simultaneously.

But too much time has been wasted. When Kakashi returns to the battlefield, he finds nothing but rubble amidst the signs of destruction. There is no blood, which gives him hope, but Sasuke's disappearance leaves them no closer to a conclusion. In that moment of doubt, Sakura's pained face haunts him.

Kakashi gauges his chakra and reaches a decision. It is only the second time in his life that he has called on Pakkun again after dismissing him earlier that same day.

The small dog materialises, and there is no mistaking the look of pity this time. "Please…"

He only hopes that he is not too late.

**TBC**

* * *


	15. Consequences of Action

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Naruto.

_Author's Notes:_ A delay, as always, in updating. I recently took on a new position in the organization that I'm part of so a lot of my time has been diverted there. I hope everyone's holiday was more than satisfactory. Now that the manga chapters are focused on Sasuke and Itachi's fight, I'm not going to get too elaborate in my fight scenes since the real ones are much better. As well, with the timeline I've chosen, Sasuke wouldn't have had the time to become skilled with his Sharingan so the fight wouldn't be half as interesting. I hope the length of this chapter (sort of) makes up for the ridiculously long delay in updating.

In this matter of tense: I specifically tried to write in one tense last chapter, as I've been told numerous times that I like to jump back and forth. I tend to write the one that "sounds best", which doesn't mean that it is in line with the rest of the story. Last chapter was all in present tense because I've grown increasingly fond of it lately. However, another person has stated that this isn't a good idea – and I suppose, in the long run, I am wont to agree. Therefore, for the final time: everything from this point on will be in past tense. I hope it's not too jarring from last chapter's set-up. If ever I have idle time (highly, highly unlikely), I may go back and correct it all to correspond nicely.

* * *

Chapter 15

She could see the outline of the gate through the canopy. The trees were thinning the farther along she went, letting patches of blue and white show through the ceiling of green, forming a path as if to guide the way. There were movements in the clearing beyond; she could sense the restlessness from a mile away. Naruto, unconscious and precariously slumped on her back, felt no heavier than a child. She could barely feel the tickling of his breath on her neck now. Sakura shifted her grip without pausing.

Her first leap out of the forest was like being born, as startling as leaving the womb. She was suddenly very conscious of how unguarded she was, how long the stretch from forest edge to village perimeter, but she was determined to arrive without incident, to have Naruto delivered safely. Up ahead she saw many figures gathered around the village entrance. When she finally made it close enough to see the faces clearly she found that her reception was no less than the Hokage herself.

Tsunade's anger was clouding her face like a storm. "Just what the hell did you think you were--?!"

Sakura landed lightly on her feet and eased Naruto onto the ground. Tsunade cut herself off as her eyes fully took in the boy's condition.

"Call the emergency medic team, bring me a stretcher and get him to the hospital immediately!"

The other shinobi, who had been silent witnesses until her command, sprang into action. There was a flurry of activity as messengers were dispatched and medical equipment brought forward. Tsunade oversaw that Naruto was loaded properly before turning to Sakura again.

"I'm going to look after him myself," she stated to her student, even though her actions had made it perfectly clear. "I'll deal with your punishment later. I need you to get yourself checked up and then to assist me."

"Yes, Master."

Tsunade had already walked away when a terrible realization dawned, something that she felt she had forgotten. "What about Kakashi? Did you see him?" It didn't seem likely that Sakura could have gotten Naruto back on her own, not against the Akatsuki; but then, why did Kakashi not come back with her? And where was Sasuke? Too many questions were racing inside her head now, all the things she should have asked that were driven away by the sight of that broken body. Kakashi was smart enough not to do anything too rash – but she knew that if anything were to happen to him, Jiraiya would never forgive her for not protecting Minato's prized student just as fiercely as she protected his son.  
Sakura didn't hesitate before answering; she knew that there were no lies to make everything okay. "He went after Sasuke."

Tsunade inhaled quickly, one sharp breath. Perhaps she was wrong about his rashness; something about the Uchiha boy made these three lose their heads. "You'll have to tell me the whole story later. Right now we need to focus on keeping the one we do have alive."

-----

Sasuke had closed his eyes and concentrated his efforts on pushing chakra into his brain, trying to dispel the illusion. _If you can't see it, it doesn't exist._ That wasn't proving to be particularly true in this case, as he still felt the cold grip of his intestines around his neck, tugging insistently. _It doesn't exist_. It was increasingly difficult to focus as he was constantly trying to keep the bile from rising in the back of his throat.

"It's no use, Sasuke." Itachi's voice sounded so near that Sasuke was half tempted to believe it came from inside his own head. "You can't displace this jutsu. Your mind is mine to command."

"Never," Sasuke rasped, having abandoned his attempts at fending off the illusion internally and instead simply fighting it physically, grasping the writhing coils to get some air into his lungs. "If we do this, it's going to be on my terms."

"I don't believe you're in the position to be dictating conditions." Itachi stood calmly, watching as his brother struggled under his power. "Just like that day… and every other day since."

"No!" Sasuke screamed, as the air around them started to warp into the familiar inversed colours, the familiar scenery of their childhood. "No!!!!"

Itachi seemed in no particular hurry after defeating his brother, and Kabuto had trouble discerning what the man's intentions were. Why did he take the boy with him? Uchiha Sasuke could not possibly be of any use to the Akatsuki, and it would be strange to think that Itachi still had feelings for his little brother. Then again, he had spared his life all those years ago at the clan massacre. Perhaps there was still a shred of brotherly love, of compassion?

Whatever the case, Itachi had led him on a winding trail without seeming to have a destination. Kabuto was careful, always, to keep his presence hidden, and whenever the pair stopped he would be especially alert, in case the cause for the delay was because Itachi had noticed him. The air gradually thinned, the temperature cooled. He was struggling for breaths now and was surprised at his own weakness. It took Kabuto a while to realize that they had been climbing an immense hill and his body had merely been trying to get more oxygen. He had developed a jutsu to counteract physiological deficiencies such as these, but he daren't use it lest his chakra blow his cover.

He was so engrossed in keeping himself hidden and watching Itachi's movements that he didn't realize where they were until Itachi had brushed back the foliage to reveal the entrance to an abandoned hideout. Kabuto recognized it immediately as one of Orochimaru's.

_How could he know about this? Unless he was here when Orochimaru-sama was still part of the Akatsuki…_

Itachi easily bypassed the jutsu that sealed the entrance and carried Sasuke inside.

Kabuto smiled to himself. "Well, well, things just got a lot more interesting…"

-----

"Nothing?"

The small dog shook his head at his summoner's imploring gaze. "I'm sorry, Kakashi. The trail disappears almost immediately – it's like there's someone erasing their footsteps."

Kakashi let out a long sigh. "Thank you, Pakkun. I guess I should head back if that's the case… Tsunade-sama will probably have a warrant out for my head by now." He tried to smile at his own joke, although his prediction hadn't been far off. The Hokage was resting from the operation she had just performed but when news of his return reached her he was summoned almost immediately.

"You've got some nerve," she said coldly. "I don't even know what to say. I couldn't expect much better from Naruto and Sakura, but _you_, of all people, I just—" She broke off, seething. "Tell me what happened."

And so he recounted his story, some of which had been told by Sakura. When he had finished she only nodded silently before telling him that Naruto's condition wasn't very stable.

"They performed some kind of jutsu on him," she said, and he could tell that her own words were a source of disquiet. "It was like they had managed to sever all of the Kyuubi's chakra from his body – but it was done at a time when their chakras had been extremely intertwined. Naruto sustained a fair number of injuries but I think the Kyuubi had been healing them almost instantaneously. When I examined him I found internal wounds but the external cuts had all been closed. The Kyuubi's chakra infused so much of Naruto's own chakra that when the link was severed, just like that, his body didn't have time to react. All the wounds that were healed are reopening again." She frowned. "I think his body has grown so used to having the extra chakra that now it doesn't seem to know what to do only with what he's got. He's very weak right now."

"Would it help to give him a chakra transfer?" Kakashi asked, knowing that it was something she would have thought of already.

"I considered that," Tsunade answered, "but his physiology is so unique now that I didn't want to risk a rejection. I tried coaxing the strands back together – reforming the bond between Naruto's chakra and the Kyuubi's. But it's sentient, Kakashi. I think it realizes now that it can survive simply by resting on his body and doesn't want to lend him its strength anymore."

"What about the seal?"

"Yes, the seal is still there. It appears that the Akatsuki have somehow found a way of severing a tailed beast from its container but still keeping it locked within a seal."

"But that's impossible," Kakashi said incredulously. "Seals need human will to keep them intact. How can there be a seal without a keeper?"

"I don't know," Tsunade said grimly, "but it's not a good sign. You know they're going to be after him now more than ever…" Her sentence trailed off and he didn't need to ask to know what she was thinking.

"If he survives, you mean."

"Yes." For the first time he thought that Tsunade's age showed through her disguise. "If he survives."

-----

Naruto looked both small and harmless surrounded by the white hospital sheets. _Like a newborn_, Kakashi thought, swaddled in the warmth and safety of a blanket. But a new life meant the cessation of an old one, and he wasn't quite ready to let this kid go yet.

"Hi Naruto," he said with a smile, setting himself down on the chair beside the bed. "You don't look too worse for wear. Mind if I sit here for a while?"

He got no response from the unconscious patient. "Sasuke went to save you, you know. Well… maybe that wasn't the only reason, but it was important enough for him to fight for." He lapsed into silence and let the minutes pass, unaware of the ticking of the clock. Time moved on in its unending increments.

"Oh—Kakashi-san." He hadn't heard the door handle turn and someone step in. Looking up, his eyes took in the dark brown hair, friendly eyes, and prominent scar, the face of the person he had dreaded seeing since the whole debacle began. The man smiled. "Am I interrupting? I can come back and visit another time—"

"No, Iruka-san," Kakashi stood up, not meeting the other's eyes. "I was just leaving."

"Please, don't leave on my account," Iruka said politely, eyes never straying from Kakashi's face. "I'm sure he would want you to stay."

At that sentence, Kakashi glanced back over at Naruto and felt a fresh wave of shame sweep over him. He knew that Naruto considered this man to be something of a father figure. Iruka had passed them on to him; how had he made such a mess of things? How did he fail, once again, to save those dear to him?

"There's someone else I need to visit," Kakashi murmured hurriedly and made for the door.

"Kakashi-san," Iruka's voice called him back. Gathering his nerve, he turned ever so slightly to see the man's sincere smile. "None of this is your fault. Please don't blame yourself."

He ran then. He needed to escape from reality and all the consequences surrounding it. He ran from the room, from the building, out into the open air, uncaring where he ended up because he just needed to escape so, so badly. When he finally has his bearings again, he was standing at the base of a hill on whose peak stood a few slabs of rock engraved with names. Kakashi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Hello, old friend…"

He began the trek up.

-----

The operation had been thoroughly exhausting but she wasn't about to complain if it meant saving Naruto's life. Tsunade-sama even seemed to forget about reprimanding her. She had been listless since, told not to start any official work or, as her Master put it, "do anything stupid".

The sun had begun to set and she thought perhaps she could catch up on some sleep if she had nothing better to do. All she succeeded in doing was tossing the blankets and pillows to the far corners of her room, frustrated and anxious but not the least bit sleepy. The events of the day played over and over in her mind. If only Sasuke hadn't left again… if only Neji hadn't helped him to leave…

She sat bolt upright. Within five minutes she was fully dressed and locking the front door to her house, instilled with a new fervour. How had she not seen it before? She wasn't allowed to do any official business but that didn't mean she was barred from everything. Personal errands were still allowed. Personal visits.

The guard at the door seemed reluctant to let her in, but upon her mentioning her Master's name admitted her soon enough. It was sometimes extremely handy to be the Hokage's apprentice. Thankfully it was only civil detainment and not criminal, otherwise she wouldn't have gotten in regardless of who she apprenticed for. The guard directed her through a honeycomb of passages that led to the solitary confinement cells, reserved for the privileged breakers of the law.

Sakura stopped her progress at the sound of voices and remained out of view to listen.

"But Neji, why would you help him? You knew he'd already deserted us once!" The girl's voice and her familiarity with Neji were unmistakable. "Don't you think him asking you to help perfect a jutsu is a pretty clear sign he's going to leave?"

"Of course it is, TenTen, but Neji must have had his reasons." This boy's voice, too, was one she knew well. It had often been directed at her. "I mean, it's not like him to break the rules.

"What reasons could he possibly have had, Lee?

"I don't know, I'm trying to be supportive here!"

"There's no point in getting mad at Lee, TenTen." Neji's melodic voice came forth for the first time. "I can't change what I've done."

TenTen sighed. "Neji, you're not one to do things like this. I don't understand why you would put yourself on the line for Sasuke! Of course we all want him here, if we could have it that way, but he's made his allegiances pretty clear."

The room was silent after TenTen's statement. Sakura felt a pang in her heart; so Sasuke was already forfeited, not worth retrieving?

"I'm sorry," TenTen said finally. "Let's not talk about this."

"We came here to make you feel better," Lee laughed.

"He seemed panicked," Neji said deliberately, ignoring their words. "I think he wanted to save Naruto." Both his teammates fell silent, the smiles wiped from their faces. "Any of us would have felt the same way. I'm sure Naruto wouldn't have turned us down, and it just… didn't seem right not to do the same. I couldn't turn down Sasuke, even though I knew he might leave us again."

Sakura's heart lightened. She stepped forward after announcing herself by loudly clearing her throat.

"Hi Lee, TenTen." She hoped the smile on her face didn't seem too forced, that it wasn't too obvious that she had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Oh, Sakura-chan!" Lee beamed, moving toward her. "I'm glad you got back fine. We were all really worried about you!"

"Thank you," she replied politely, "I'm sorry to have made you worry."

There was an awkward pause as all four of them looked at one another. Sakura cleared her throat again. "Anyway, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to talk to Neji for a bit, if that's okay."

"Uh, yes, of course. We were just leaving." TenTen was tactful enough to excuse both herself and Lee, who would probably not have left voluntarily. "Take care of yourself, Neji. We'll come again tomorrow."

Neji waited for the door to shut on both his teammates before addressing her. "I assume you heard everything we said?"

"Most of it," Sakura said sheepishly. "I didn't mean to listen in."

"I assume you have questions for me." Neji said matter-of-factly, motioning for her to take a seat.

"Yes." She sat down on the bench beside him. "Please tell me everything you can about Sasuke's new Sharingan."

-----

Iruka brushed back the strands of unruly hair from Naruto's eyes, watching the rapid rise and fall of his chest with every shallow breath. Naruto seemed to sense his touch as he furrowed his eyebrows together under his hand.

"..f-ox…"

It had been forced out on the tiniest exhale, but it was enough to chill his blood. Naruto was moaning loudly in his sleep now, thrashing about in the bed. For a moment Iruka was sure he would wrench his hand out of the IV and fall off the bed onto the floor.

"It's okay, Naruto, it's okay!" he tried to say soothingly, but his voice came out panicked. After a few more nightmarish moments, Naruto settled down enough for Iruka to pull the covers back up to his chin. He watched the lines ease of out the boy's face and sat down in the same chair Kakashi had occupied hours earlier, needing rest but unwilling to leave. The nurses had long since given up trying to persuade him. Naruto was serene now, with no trace of his earlier fit. From the surface he appeared only to be sleeping.

Iruka rested his head in his hands and closed his eyes. He must have dozed off because the next thing he remembered was waking up to the sound of his name, brokenly pronounced by a tired, wheezy voice.

"I-ruka… sen-sei…"

His head shot up, eyes wide. Big blue orbs were looking at him through heavy eyelids. Perhaps it was just the medication, but Naruto's eyes seemed clouded.

"Naruto! I can't believe you're awake. Tsunade-sama said you would be out for a couple days at least, if you—" He stopped himself from saying "if you made it" and instead smiled widely, grasping the hand Naruto had extended in joy. "Just let me alert a nurse—"

But the grip in his was firm; Naruto wouldn't let him go. "Iru-ka… sensei."

His smile was faltering. "What is it, Naruto? I won't be gone long."

"The-the Yondaime…" he had to pause as a fit of coughing interrupted him.

"Hey, take it easy. You're still in terrible shape."

"Yondaime," Naruto said again, after his coughing had subsided. "I want… to know."

For the second time that day Iruka felt his blood run cold. Naruto couldn't possibly be suggesting what he thought he was… could he? "Whatever it is, I'm sure we can discuss it when you get better." He tried to stop the problem before it formed, but Naruto hadn't heeded his words.

"Was… the Yondaime… my father?"

* * *

**TBC**


End file.
